Refuge
by rscottdjr
Summary: A Federation Starship in a desperate situation comes across a mysterious ship that may prove their salvation. But will enemies from unknown space be more than they can handle? I am new to this so be kind.
1. Chapter 1

_My first attempt at putting this on paper. For some reason this is a story idea that I have toyed around with for quite some time. Hopefully if I put it on paper, it will clear out some cobwebs._

 _This is a cross-over story using the Star Trek TOS and Battlestar Galactica TOS universes. The characters are primarily my own creation with a couple of potential guest appearances from those nearer and dearer to you._

 _I do not own any rights to Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica. I have no intention of distributing this work for profit or personnel gain. Star Trek is the sole property of Paramount where as Battlestar Galactica belongs to Universal._

In the cold of space floated an object. Any inspection would reveal that is was not natural in origin. The large saucer in the front could be seen flashing occasional, repetitive and rhythmic points of light. The lower portion was perfectly shaped and the two nacelles behind the saucer section were perfectly proportional and mirror images of each other. It was easy to see that this object, this starship, belonged in space, but another look showed something else. One would think that this wanderer of stars should display power and grace but instead, it appeared crippled and weak. There were no holes, gaps or other signs of damage. Instead it just sat there almost crying to the stars its frustration that it could not leap from star to star. On the top of the saucer were markings that identified the great ship stuck in space. Normally brightly illuminated but now only visible by starlight were the words:

USS Kongo

NCC 1710

Captain Gerhardt Berg sat in the command chair in the center of the bridge. He was 52 years old with somewhat graying blonde hair that highlighted his years of experience with Starfleet. He was in excellent physical condition and exuded a confidence that his crew had learned to trust and follow. Gerhardt has had a long and distinguished career with Starfleet being known especially for his expertise in the Prime Directive and areas of interstellar law. In general his career had lacked some of the more extraordinary adventures experienced by the likes of James T. Kirk, but the Kongo and his crew had done more than their share to help support and protect the Federation.

This was supposed to be his last mission. He had been put up for promotion to Commodore and re-assignment to Starbase One. He had been asked to take on one last, very routine exploratory mission to investigate some unknown signals that had come from unexplored space. The signal had appeared intelligent if somewhat primitive. Nothing seemed troublesome or dangerous and they had even brought on a graduate student who had a theory about "life out there" that was consistent with the signals the Federation had received. All had gone well until the Event. Now no one could say what the future held.

Captain Berg looked around his command chair. Starship bridges were meant to be busy, bright and loud places. As computer interfaces evolved and were perfected, the need to convey information to human users more quickly and efficiently drove computer design towards user interfaces that were less "glitzy" than were found in the early years of computers. Even auditory inputs had been optimized to provide as much information as possible. Someone from 21st century may feel that the lights and sounds were a throwback to the mid 20th century but in actuality, the information being conveyed was much more dense and meaningful than ever before. Now, however, the bridge of the Kongo was quiet and dark. Crewmembers sat at their stations and looked at unlit panels. The viewscreen had been turned off some time ago and computer operations were limited to the bare essentials to keep the crew alive. Life Support had been cut to near minimal levels so the air was musty and heavy. While space was cold, the heat of 430 starfleet personnel caused the temperature to rise and become uncomfortable. Captain Berg marveled at the professional demeanor held by the bridge officers despite their grim fate.

"Captain", Gerhardt looked up and saw that his first officer was standing next to him. Lost in thought, he had not noticed his approach " _Sloppy, Gerhardt_ " he admonished himself. If Starfleet had taught him nothing else, it was to be aware of what was around him.

"Yes, Commander", answered the Captain. Assad Hasan was his first officer and had served with distinction. Unusually he had come up through the ranks of Security to achieve this position. The security forces in Starfleet were in many circles considered a lower branch of the service. Serving on Starships as both as a police force and protectorate, they often had long stretches were they were unengaged only to suddenly be thrust into the most dangerous situations without warning. Whether it was protecting the ship from hostiles onboard to taking the lead on landing parties with little or no information on the environment, the "redshirts" were often the first to take casualties and the first blamed when things went wrong. Commander Hasan sought to change all of that. He insisted that Security be at the forefront of discussions and that they sit at the same table as other department heads when decisions were made. He began a program of cross-training to alleviate the boredom and properly integrate security personnel with the rest of the crew. He instituted new policies and protocols that allowed his security team to have the lowest injury and mortality rate in the fleet. He had also become the voice of reason for Captain Gerhardt as he faced difficult decisions.

"Captain, here is the latest report on power reclamation efforts. We are projected to extend our reserves for another 72 hours. That means we have 24 days until full Life Support collapse". The commander reported this as a matter of fact. Both men understood that he was citing their death sentences if things did not change.

"I see," responded the captain. With half a smile, he asked "Did someone neglect to tell us about a 3D projector in their quarters?"

"No sir," responded Hasan, "we shut down sickbay." That brought Berg back to reality. On any Starship Sickbay was the most secure space and an area that has held sacrosanct for the injured and needy. Many starship doctors had stories of performing life saving surgeries while under duress. Civil personnel were often sent there during dangerous situation.

"Is there anybody that needs attention?" asked the captain, his first thought being towards his crew.

"Doctor DeFleur advises that there are two crew members with minor ailments which can be treated with field equipment. We can repower sickbay if we need to. Right now it seems unnecessary ."

"Understood, commander. Are the matter/antimatter containment fields still intact?" He asked. One of the great ironies of their current situation was that the warp engines were still generating power at peak levels. There was simply no way to divert that power to generate a warp drive or anywhere else in the ship for that matter. Fortunately the containment field was designed to run directly off of the Warp Field.

Commander Hasan nodded "Yes sir, that remains stable."

Captain Berg thanked whatever power which was appropriate for that small favor. He turned to face the front of the bridge as a habit and expected his first officer to leave the side of his seat. Quickly he realized that Hasan was hesitating as if he had something else to say. It was unlike the Security officer to not speak his mind so Gerhardt turned back and said,

"Anything else, Commander?"

The First officer nodded and said, "Yes sir. Lieutenant Rodriguez, could you join us please?"

Kiko Rodriguez was the ship's primary helmsman. Relatively new to Starfleet, she started her career in piloting merchant ships before deciding that Starfleet held something more for her. The merchant ships she piloted often travelled routes which were known to see raiders and aggressive competitors that helped hone her skills. Berg had seen her take some particularly inventive maneuvers inside a nebula when they had been playing chicken with a K7 Klingon Battleship. While talented, she was still learning a how to be an officer and all that came with it.

Kiko stepped up to the center of the bridge in front of the captain. She put her hands behind her back and waited, not quite patiently, for the first officer to speak.

Commander Assad began speaking with deliberation and articulating the words he had practiced internally over the last two hours. 'Sir, we wanted to discuss our plans to start cannibalizing the shuttlecraft power supplies to augment our current reserves. We would like you to consider an alternative."

Here the commander hesitated. Captain Back looked at him with a bit of impatience and said, "I'm listening."

"Sir," jumped in Rodriguez," we would like to propose to send out the shuttles in a search pattern to see if there is anything of value in the immediate area. Maybe even get within earshot of a Federation ship. We would send the shuttles out in a standard deployment pattern forming a sphere around the Kongo. Each shuttle would travel for 12 hours and then return."

"We could run them in shifts with rotating crews," added Hasan. "It would give some of our people a chance to step off the ship if only for a short period."

"Commander, Lieutenant the odds of us finding anything are virtually zero. We would be using precious resources which may just give us enough time to be found. Starfleet knows where we were and that we are missing. Who knows what type of trail we left after the Event? We are blind, we cannot move and we cannot send for help. The amount of space a shuttle can explore is very small. I can't see the value of it."

"Sir you are right but we need to do it anyway." Hasan lowered his voice. "We are starting to lose the crew. They have held up extraordinarily well but as the clock continues to tick and we run out of ways to stretch the batteries, they are beginning lose hope. This is something, even if a pipe dream, that we can do. That they can see we are doing. Please, let us show that we are doing something. It will make a tremendous difference."

Captain Berg looked at the two officers. He then glanced around the bridge. He looked at the faces of the professional men and women with whom he served in many cases for years. They were all professional and doing their jobs as best they could. He then saw something else; their resolve was fading. It was subtle and had probably crept up on them over the last few days. He realized his officers were right. All may be lost. They may be drifting in their final coffin. But he could let them try.

"Lieutenant Rodirquez, please arrange with Commander Hasan a schedule to deploy our shuttlecrafts in a search pattern around the Kongo. The crews should be comprised of all volunteers but we will obviously want crews that can manage multiple situations," he looked at his first offices," and please arrange for a shipwide announcement describing our plans."


	2. Chapter 2

_No excuse for long delays. Hopefully I remember where I was going with this._

The shuttlecraft Battuta was on its 12th hour of its explorations ship. Ever since Captain Berg had ordered the exploratory missions of the area with the four shuttlecrafts, morale had perked up a bit. Everyone understood the odds of finding any sort of help were slim; Lieutenant Scogaska, the Andorian Science Officer, has called them "of insignificant probability". Captain had pulled him aside for a quick talk following that comment after which he seemed to feel that the expeditions were worthwhile.

Kiko Rodriguez sat at the help of the shuttle. With the Kongo being afloat in space, her services were not needed on the bridge. The missions were purely voluntary but a bored crew led to a long list to choose from. Onboard with Kiko were Lieutenant Samantha Gravelson. Samantha was just out of the academy and was a linguistic expert who was on the Kongo for her shake down mission. She really had not intended on making starship duty her primary career but needed some service hours to be considered for promotion. Next to her in the back was William, Bill, Newman. He was on the security detail and had been assigned by Commander as a Hasan as a reward for his stellar performance both before and after the Incident.

Then there was Crewman Andrew Smith. He sat next to Kiko in what amounted to the co-pilot sit. Kiko once again tried not to look and feel uncomfortable about his presence. They had almost reached the 12 hour mark at which they would turn around and have another 12 hours back. Kiko tried to remind herself of the reasons that she should not get involved with Smith: he was an enlisted man, he was always getting into trouble with Chief Engineer DeSoto, he was arrogant and obnoxious but once again she found herself cursing Starfleet for the short uniforms and trying to turn her attention to something else.

"12 hours," said Crewman Smith suddenly.

"What?" Kiko responded trying to shake herself out of her internal turmoil.

"12 hours," he repeated. "Orders are to turn around after 12 hours. You're in charge. What do you think?"

The young lieutenant sighed. She had hoped that they would find something despite the odds. Even a meteor siting would have been something but so far there was nothing to report. She stared out the front viewport and looked at the young engineer.

"How about one last round of scans. Any chance we roll snake eyes and find something?"

Smith laughed a bit. From the rear, Samantha Gravelson cleared her throat. "Are you sure we should disobey the Captain's orders?"

Kiko looked at Newman who had remained silent. "What do you think Redshirt. Will get written up for a couple of minutes?"

He smiled and replied, "According to my watch, we have five minutes." He said, pointing to his unadorned wrist. He looked at Samantha, "It's not going to matter. Don't worry."

Kiko smiled. "Okay Smith, did you find the Holy Grail?" She sat down getting ready set a course back to the Kongo.

He did not answer immediately and made several adjustments to the scanners. The unexpected silence caught everybody's attention. Smith continued to stare into the scanner and said, "I think so."

"What? What do you have?" Kiko sat down at her scanner and tried to lock into the signal Smith was viewing.

"Something metallic. The material readings aren't making much sense but I have to believe that it is refined. There are energy readings as well. Could be fusion, I am not sure but rhythmic. I believe it is artificial"

Lieutenant Rodriguez brought his signal into focus and looked. Now that they found it, not only was it metallic but it may be large. Smith was right, the material displays coming back were not making sense. She instinctively plotted a course. The signal was actually inside the search perimeter that the Kongo had established but none of the current courses would come close to it.

"Okay, it would take us about 3 hours to get there. Another 10 hours back to the Kongo," Kiko was almost talking to herself but she knew what she was about to do. "I am setting course. Bill, if that is a ship be ready for anything. Andrew start recording all scanner readings. I want to get more detailed readings as we get closer. Either something is off with our scanners or there is something in that metal that we can't identify. As Captain Berg would say, we are always explorers."

The crew hesitated. "My command," she said. "Let's go".

Samantha opened and closed her mouth a couple of times and finally said, "Should we call in?"

Kiko shook her head, "Normally yes, but the Kongo is so power strapped that I don't want to until we know what we are reporting. I am setting course and engaging."

The Battuta went quickly through space but to the crew, it seemed to crawl. As the got closer, the scanners were able to give a better but even more confusing readings on the mysterious target. It was definitely a ship. And it was big, about twice the length of a Constitution class starship. The power signature were similar to Fusion but there was no sign of a warp signature which was odd since they know they were light years away from the nearest start. There was large enclosure at the rear that the assumed was the engine compartment.

Rodriguez and Smith stared and the ship as it got closer.

"Maybe a sleeper ship?" Posited Smith.

"I don't know," she responded, "It's not moving at all right now. Somehow strikes me as warship of some sort. Wait, is that tachyon displacement?"

Smith looked and responded, "Yeah so it can go faster than light. How? There still is no sign of a warp core. How close are we?"

"200 Kilometers. No reaction so far."

"Okay," she said, "let's try to be friendly. Open standard hailing frequency. Samantha, we might need your help on this."

The commanding Lieutenant took a breath and opened the channel, "this is Lieutenant Kiko Rodriguez from the USS Starship Kongo of the United Federation of Planets. Please respond."

The all waited anxiously. There was no response.

"Range?" she asked.

"150 Kilometers. No response so far," Answered the Engineer.

Kiko slowed their speed to minimum impulse. She would need to drop to thrusters in a bit.

"This is Lieutenant Kiko Rodriguez from the USS Starship Kongo of the United Federation of Planets. Our ship is in distress and we seeking assistance. We are not armed and have no hostile intentions. Please respond."

There was still no response. They were now within visual range of the large vessel. It had a large ecliptic central section with two somewhat smaller attachments on either side. The Federation crew immediately thought of warp nacelles but they quickly realized that was not the case.

"Landing bays?" asked Smith. Kiko shrugged her shoulders and said, "Can we get some scans of the interior? I am not sure any one is home."

Smith went back to his scanner. "I am not picking up any life but I think there is an Oxygen-Nitrogen atmosphere in there. There seems to be some type of artificial gravity but the source is different than ours. It is set to about earth standard."

He looked up and saw that they were within 100 meters of the alien hull. "Hell they could see is if they looked out a porthole at this point. Look there are some markings."

The team looked up and saw.

Άλυμπος

Samantha Gravelson stood up all of a sudden and stared. She said nothing for a few minutes until Kiko coaxed her, "Samantha what is it?"

She still starred for a moment more and finally said, "That's Greek. Those marking are writing in Greek. It says 'Olympus.'"

The shuttlecraft crew starred at each other for a moment more until Kiko said, "Now we should call the Captain."


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: I think I am getting on a roll. Getting past the first chapter was daunting but I do have a plan and hope to keep up the pace. A couple of notes. I intend this to be a longer read. It will pick up as the crew of the Kongo figures out what is going on. I appreciate the reads I have received and hope you enjoy the rest._

Captain Berg and Chief Engineer DeSoto looked over the power outputs on the Engineering Console. They were in the Engineering section which is many ways was the heart and soul of the ship. The matter/anti-matter reaction behind the protective grating continued to glow red. One of the ironies of the Incidence is that the ship actually had power but since the entire dilithium supply was destroyed, including spares, there was no way to tap into it. Add to that the ship's fusion reactors having gone inert which should be powering the impulse drive and other systems, the Kongo found itself where she was today. The red glow from this reaction was almost taunting him, telling him in their own way that there was power but he could never get to it; there was no hope.

The Captain looked around the Engineering section. Several power conduits lay across the deck and in many cases the consoles were obviously jury-rigged. This was quite unlike the engineering section led by the by the book Lieutenant Commander who was his Chief of Engineering.

"Chief, normally engineering is a little more prepared for an inspection," chided the Captain. DeSoto looked at the Captain obviously distressed.

"It's Smith, sir," he said. "He claims to working on ways to extend the power. I think he is just bored and is using that as an excuse to ignore Starfleet standards. We have had some discussions."

"Anything useful?" inquired the Captain. "We do need to be creative."

"He does have some interesting ideas; however, we do need to maintain some standards or we won't be able to support any of this." He was obviously irritated. Crewman Smith and the Chief had very different outlooks on how to run Engineering. Smith was a fan of the likes of Montgomery Scott from the Enterprise and his ability to improvise. DeSoto knew and appreciated Mr. Scott's abilities but did not feel that the young crewman had the credibility and experience to imitate him. On more than one occasion, the Captain found himself intervening on disagreements between the two.

"Chief, try to split the difference. These are difficult times and we have to be creative. He will back from his shuttle run in about 8 hours. Talk to him. Find the good and coach him when he is out of bounds. That is what I expect from my senior officers." Gerhardt had given this speech before. Maybe this time it would take.

"Yes Sir," was the only response he got.

"Very good," responded the Captain. "Where are we with power consumption?"

"Bluntly sir we are running out of options. Life support is at a minimum. We continue to rotate power through communication systems and short-range sensors but that may have to stop soon. If I may be so bold, these shuttle excursions are not helping."

Captain Berg looked at the Engineer. This was not the first person who questioned his decision. Even though he had been persuaded by his First Officer, the responsibility was his. He frowned and yet again wondered if he should cancel the effort. Still, he could not argue that morale was up since they had started. He continued to look for other options.

"Anything we can do?" asked Berg.

"Actually, Crewman Smith had an idea that may help some. We could attach emergency airlocks to the entrance to the shuttle bay and then decompress it. All of the shuttles come with environment suits and the crews could embark and disembark that way. We could also leave the shuttle bay exterior doors open and not use the turnstile to turn shuttlecrafts around. This will make it trickier on the pilots but will help alleviate the power drain. "

"Okay make it so," said the captain. "Maybe Smith is good for something after all," he said with a smile.

Just as Berg was about to leave, his communicator chirped. The Captain opened it and said "Berg here."

"Bridge Captain," he recognized the voice of his First Officer. "I think you should come up here as soon as possible."

With the current power situation that meant climbing through several Jeffries tubes and up several ladders. He had just come off a long shift and had planned to go back to his quarters. With the current crisis the bridge was a quiet place where very little happened. He went there as was his duty but he did not relish going back so soon.

"Commander, what is so urgent? "

"The Mattuba hailed sir," he answered. I believe you should come. They seem to have discovered a ship."

Captain Berg looked at his communicator in shock. Suddenly the air seemed less thick and the lights not as dark. He was a seasoned Starfleet officer. He knew the alien ship may ignore them as easily as attack, but here was chance. He they could even just send a message…

 _Don't get ahead of yourself_ , he admonished internally. _Get to the bridge and see what is going on._

"Commander, I will be there in 10 minutes." He took a quick look at his Chief Engineer who had overheard the communication. "Chief keep this to yourself for now. Do what you need to in the Shuttle bay."

"Yes sir!" was the response and Berg jogged down the hallway to the first ladder he would have to climb.

"Yes sir, the ship appears to be operational. At a minimum they have power and life support seems to be on." Lieutenant Rodriquez was not used to this type of scrutiny from senior offices and right now she had the undivided attention of the Captain and First Officer.

"No response to hails or other signs that they have noticed you?" asked Hassan. Finding the ship was miracle in more ways than he could count, but if they could not contact them it may not matter.

"No sir," answered the young lieutenant. The communication link was audio only to conserve power and she was conscious of the fact the many resources were being spent to discuss this situation. She was also keenly aware of the long pauses that were happening on the other of the line with the Captain and First Officer. This was unnerving, especially because she could not see either man's expression.

"Ensign Gravelson, can you give me some more details on your determination that a Greek word is on the side of this ship?" asked Captain Berg.

The young Ensign started and immediately lost her voice. Security Officer Newman nudged her and pointed to the communication console. She nodded and said, "Sir, there is a large written word on both of the sides pod which looks like Greek and translates to 'Olympus'. We think it might be the name of the ship much as 'Kongo' is on our hull. We have seen other marking on the exterior that our not pure Greek. I assume most of them our service markings for things such port descriptions, power connections, etc., In addition to Greek they seem to have origins in Latin and other languages I am not familiar with. One thing is pretty clear to me, this language seems to share root with Earth Languages. I have no explanation sir." She finished.

"Sir what are your orders? If this ship's power systems are in working order and the life support is within human norms, this could be a big help." Kiko waited patiently. She knew what she was asking. She wanted to board the ship and see what was there that could help. She also had a pretty good feeling what the Captain was going to say.

"We don't seem to have an open invitation, Lieutenant. Starfleet regulations still hold," Captain Berg said this but also knew what was at stake. "There are also Prime Directive implications. The standard for first contact is warp drive proficiency

. We see no signs of that."

"Actually sir, I believe that it's FTL. The Federations has explored, and even had some success, with other means of faster than light propulsion other than Warp. None have been as successful but maybe the owners of this ship have come up with something else," Captain Berg was surprised that his First Officer spoke up in this area. But he also had a point. Gerhardt looked around his dark bridge and sniffed the ever-suffocating air. He had taken an oath to uphold Federation standards but nothing had prepared him for this. He was truly divided and sat speechless for several moments. He tried to visualize the situation on the Mattuba. Junior crewmen staring at a ship, however alien, that could be their salvation but potentially out of reach. He sat back for a moment and made a decision he did not think he would 24 days ago.

"Lieutenant," the captain began slowly, "it appears that you have found a ship in distress and unable to respond to external communication. Please look for an entry point and see if we are able to render assistance."

Kiko looked at her communication panel and smiles. "Yes sir," she said. "Mattuba out,"

She looked around the shuttle craft. She almost laughed at the idea of the Kongo rendering aide but she had her orders. The crew she had was not exactly the boarding party she would have selected and she had a newbie in Samantha Gravelson; however, she felt good about the group. Now, how do they get in?

She looked and Crewman Smith, Security Guard Newman and Ensign Gravelson. "Okay, how do we get in?" she asked.

Surprisingly the young Ensign was the first to respond. "There appear to be access ports around the hull. We could use the environment suits and spacewalk."

Kiko smiled, "Are you volunteering, Ensign?" she asked.

"No Ma'am. I thought somebody else might have more experience," responded Samantha meekly.

"What about the attached pods?" inquired Crewman Smith. "They look like landing decks."

"Pretty big," noted Will Newman. "How many ships would this thing carry?"

"Let's find out," said Kiko and set a course to swing behind the closest pod.

As they moved into position, they all stood where they could take a look. By all appearances there was a very large opening that seemed to open to space. Inside they saw signs of equipment and cargo although nothing that resembled a ship was in view.

"Scanners?" asked the Lieutenant?

"I am reading an atmosphere in there along with habitable temperatures. No dangerous radiation.

"How?" asked Kiko. "A forcefield?" That would mean that simply landing would not be possible.

"I am getting some type of energy reading that is similar to a force field but at a much lower power level. You know, Starfleet has been working on an atmospheric force field that would let matter in but prevent gas from traversing it. I think our friends from the Olympus may have licked that problem."

"One way to find out," Kiko said. "I am taking us in at minimum thrusters."

With that command, the shuttlecraft slowly headed into the large landing bay.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: I was asked about the "Event" that took the Kongo out of action. I will get to that as a flashback at some point._

Kiko led the Mattuba up to the very outside of the landing bay and reduced speed to absolute minimum thrusters. If she was about to run into a forcefield, she preferred that she do it slowly. She counted down as they approached. At 1 meter, she braced subconsciously. She noted that her crewmates did the same. Suddenly there was a lurch downward. She looked at her instrument panel and cursed to herself.

"Dammit, gravity lip. Rookie mistake on my part. I was too worried about the force field."

"Gravity Lip?" asked Samantha.

Andrew Smith answered, "when you go from space inside a ship with artificial gravity, it comes on quickly. Our gravity systems, and apparently theirs, are unidirectional for short distances, usually 'up'. That avoids us from sweeping up any stray debris that may be coming by. Usually experienced pilots compensate," he gave Kiko a mischievous look "but in this case it happened late."

"Fine," she replied, "next time you land on the alien landing bay." She turned back to her viewer.

"Will, where do you think we should land?"

The Security Officer surveilled the scene and tried to think of strategic advantages. They had no idea where are an attack might come from or what it would look like.

"How about there next to those cargo containers near the wall. Can you fit? It would provide us some cover."

Kiko nodded and nudged the shuttle into place. They landed gently with Kiko given Andrew a smug look when there was virtually no jar. She checked atmosphere and confirmed what the scanners had revealed; the air was virtually identical to Earth. No other obvious pathogens were shown either.

"Okay, we don't what's out here. Phasers but set to stun. Gravelson and Smith, take tricorders. Newman, lead the way."

They opened the door and the stepped out. They knew the landing bay was big but being on the deck and looking around drove home just how large it was. Andrew Smith made note that they hanger seemed to be designed to support multiple landings from small ships and had equipment in place to move them. Tracing some of the routes and tracks, he noted that they ended at at re-enforced doors along the outside wall of the bay. He would have to check those out later.

"Hey look here," yelled Ensign Gravelson. She was pointing at what appeared to be a small ship, somewhat larger than their shuttlecrafts but similar in shape. Crewman Smith went over and inspected the outside.

"Looks like its in for maintenance," he said noting an open exterior panel. "Maybe that's why it's here. I don't see any others and this bay was designed to hold a lot more vehicles than this."

"Do you think they abandoned ship?" asked Kiko.

"I don't know," answered Newman. "Why leave the lights on?"

"True," answered Kiko. "Let's see if we can get into the main section of the ship."

"You know, this ship is obviously built for war. Says something about the people that manned her," mused Crewman Smith.

"Lots of peace has been kept by warships," quipped the Security guard.

"Lots of wars too," answered Smith. "But your point is taken. We won't make any assumptions."

As Smith examined the bay further, it seemed to designed to support routine landings but there was a whole apparatus that seemed to support quick landings, refueling and moving whatever ships they were to one side. His eyes followed the path and he saw a series of circular hatches along the one side of the bay.

"Let's look over here," he said, starting on his way without asking. Kiko cursed to herself but followed along. The Security guard and young linguist followed in suite.

The Bay had a track system which seemed intended to move some sort of small vessel to some sort of round entrance which were closed with large metallic doors. Smith walked over and looked at them and noticed that there was a smaller door next to it. He tried it and was able to open it. He walked inside and found himself in a small control room of some sort. There was a window which overlooked the beginning of a tube that led to the exterior hatch. Lieutenant Rodriguez entered along with Gravelson and Newman.

"This looks like a launch tube. If my bearings are right, the end of it should be the exterior of the ship." Andrew was beginning to look over the controls and trying to make sense of them. Lieutenant Rodriguez walked up to him.

"Andrew," she said, "We don't have time for this. We need to get into the main part of the ship and see if there is anything there is anybody home. Come on, maybe we can check this out later."

The Crewman reluctantly nodded his head and walked back into the main landing bay. They surveyed the scene and towards the middle of the bay saw what they believed to be a turbolift of some sort. The walked over to it entered. The saw a couple of buttons written in the same eerily earthlike language.

"Well?" asked Kiko to the young ensign.

Samantha gulped and said, "this one seems to say 'ascend'" she volunteered.

Kiko smiled and said "so up we go".

The reached the top of the lift and entered a large corridor.

Kiko thought for a moment, "let's assume the bridge is in the front of the craft. I remember seeing some observation windows that may have been for that purpose. The other area we probably want to check out is engineering since this is a 'rescue mission'". The other members of her team looked at her comically. "Well it is," she said. "Just ask the Captain."

Newman said, "I don't really like the idea of splitting up but we do have limited time. Groups of two?"

Kiko nodded, "Samantha you are with me. Andy you and Will try to find Engineering. As big as the engines looked to be, shouldn't be too hard. 15 minute check-ins with communicators. "

Kiko and Samantha began walking down the corridor. The ship was mammoth, even by constitution class standards. Kiko used here tricorder to map the ship as the went but in general the were able to follow a direction towards the front of the ship. Moving through the ship started to give Lieutenant Rodriquez a better sense of who ship and crew were. They moved into a section that appeared to be geared towards the crew.

"Hey look, this must be their mess hall," said Gravelson looking into a large room with a number of tables.

They entered the room and noticed an area that appeared to be for food preparation. The walked behind the counter and noted that there were several containers that appeared to store dry goods. In the rear was another metal door which upon touch was much cooler than the rest. They opened the door and looked inside to find what appeared to be frozen meat and vegetable products. The closed the door and went back out into the main room.

"Food stores, power, life support but not a person to be seen. Something happened here quickly," Kiko stretched her neck and looked around again. "Have you ever been on a non-human ship? Vulcan, Tellarite, other?" She asked.

Samantha was somewhat confused by the question, "No ma'am," she answered.

"I have. There is always a sense that things are off. As dominate as humanoids are in the galaxy, we have all had millions of years of evolution on different worlds. The temperature is off, humidity wrong or just how things are put together seem off. You know what I feel on this ship?" She asked rhetorically to the linguist.

"No," said Samantha plainly.

"That I am on a Human ship. No matter how unknown the lay-out, there is no sense that an alien race built her." Kiko sighed. "Let's keep going."

They continued towards what the believed to be the bridge and came across what appeared to be crew quarters. The peaked into the cramped spaces. "Not much space for such a large ship," commented Gravelson.

"Well the old NX class starships were pretty cramped as well. It does seem to support the idea that this is more of a warship than anything else." Kiko updated her tricorder with this location. "We'll check it out on the way back.

"Hey look at this!" Exclaimed Ensign Gravelson. The both took a look and saw some type of tram which could hold multiple people. "If I am reading this right, I think this took people back to the landing bay. "

"Hmm, more evidence that they were set up to deploy to a fight quickly. Let's see what the bridge looks like."

They continued to move and started entering a section with quarters that were more spacious and provided much more privacy than was seen before. They finally came across a handful of rooms that were obviously designed for single users.

Kiko smiled, "Officers' quarters I assume. Good to know there are some constants in the universe."

"Look up here," said Samantha. Up ahead was a large room with an official looking metal door. "This has to be it."

They opened the door and walked in. The room was large with a sunken section housing multiple workstations. Kiko could not readily identify the purpose of the consoles. Towards the rear was a station which was raised and overlooked the other sections. There actually was not place to sit but there were what seemed to be communication consoles. The was quite different than the Kongo where the Captain was in the center, there was no attempt to elevate the captain's position in such a way.

Kiko opened her communicator, "Rodriguez to Smith."

"Go ahead," he answered.

"We have found the bridge. What's your status?"

"I think we are in Engineering. It is massive. There doesn't seem to be a central point of control and everything is distributed. Still nothing that looks like a Warp Drive, "he added.

"No signs of the crew?" she asked.

"Not a one."

Okay keep me posted."

Kiko looked around and noted a plaque on the wall.

"Samantha what does this say?" She asked.

Gravelson looked at it for a while, "Odd, the plaque has the name of the ship but the designation seems unusual. At first I thought it was a Battleship or Cruiser but that can't be right. The best translation is 'Battlestar.' This seems to be the Battlestar Olympia."

"Okay," said Kiko. "Now we know whose taking care of us. Let's treat her right. We are almost due to call the Captain. Let's look around. We are almost due to call the captain."


	5. Chapter 5

Captain Berg paced the bridge of the Kongo. He felt a little guilty about it as life support was becoming critical and he was almost afraid to exert himself for fear of using more air, but the report he was getting seemed both too good to be true and disturbing.

"Lieutenant, are sure there are no signs of the crew?" He knew that he had asked the question three times already but it made no sense. He was trying to imagine a situation where his crew would just leave the Kongo.

"No sir," answered Rodriguez. "We attempted contact, approached slowly and were able to land in their shuttle bay with no sign of interest or interference. We have since traversed the entire length and the ship, and identified what we believe to be their engineering section and bridge." She took a breath and kept reporting what had been said already. "We have found food stores and other items that would be consistent with a working ship. The only real items missing are any signs of support ship. This Battlestar is obviously designed to hold a great many auxiliary ships but we only saw one that was a bit bigger than are shuttlecrafts."

Berg looked to his first officer. Assad Hasan and he had experience quite a bit together. "What do you think?"

Hasan looked into the arm panel that the captain was using. In order to save power, they were not using the viewscreen. Even the use of the local communications was more of a strain than he liked but they definitely had cause for now. "Smith, what is the ship's status?"

The Engineer stepped up to the control console on the Mattubu. They had reconvened back in the shuttle to make the call. "Sir, the technology on the ship is very different than that of the Federation or any other race I have seen. The engines are running on some sort of power similar to Fusion but I have not been able to identify the actual source of power. There are a number of large tanks in that section which almost makes think they have some time of fuel store but we haven't had time to work it all out. With little I have seen of the computers, the programming seems very rudimentary but the processing power itself is significant. I can't find anything that looks like a forcefield or warp drive but she got out here somehow and appears built for battle. Life Support seems fully operational and within Earth norms. Actually, eerily so, it is very comfortable in here. It's almost everything is on station keeping."

Lieutenant Commander Scokasga chimed in from his post, "What about the odd metallurgical readings you mentioned?" He was getting a bit bored at the technical talk but what he saw on that intrigued him.

"Later Science Officer," interrupted the captain. "Gentlemen, ladies, recommendations."

"Captain, we could relocate the crew," suggested Hasan, "just life support and food stores would get us out of the immediate crisis. We can then work on figuring out more about the Olympia and next steps," he lowered his voice a bit to make his next point, "we are down to just a few days of life support."

"Commander, are you suggesting we take over that ship? Under what grounds? There has been no hostile act and no signs of distress. Despite everything, we are still Starfleet officers who must answer to Federation law. I know we are in trouble, but we can't give up who we are."

Hasan looked at the captain both in frustration and reluctant agreement. He stayed silence for a moment imagining the fresh air the away team on the Olympus must be enjoying. He looked around the bridge and saw in everybody's eyes a dawning understanding that this may be the moment of honoring their oath which could cost them everything.

The Captain saw the same look and prepared to make a difficult decision. "Away team, prepare to.."

"Captain hold on, "He was surprised to hear the young linguistic jump in. "Salvage law." Was all Samantha Gravelson said.

"Interesting idea," muttered Hasan.

"Ensign, I appreciate the ingenuity but as a Starfleet vessel, we cannot claim salvage rights. That would apply to privately help ships."

"No, we can't," said Gravelson at almost whisper, "But I think I know who can."

Ben Clarkson lay in his cot waiting to die. He was a graduate student at the Federation Academy on Vega Prime who was studying alternate theories of human development. It was well established fact that man evolved on Earth, but there had been some odd myths about colonies of human that far pre-dates man's ability to traverse the stars. There were even some very strange reports of signals coming from far beyond Federation boundaries that seemed to be of alien technical sources but in some ways had human characteristics. When this mission had come up, a professor who was interested in his work suggested he request to go along. The trip was to be uneventful and he may gather some information that could support his thesis.

Then the Event happened. He was not a member of this crew and in fairness the captain had done what he could to make him comfortable but after a few days and even weeks, it was obvious that they were doomed. Worse, he did not have friends or others he could really talk to this about. He simply sat and waited.

Suddenly he heard what sounded like know on his door. He walked up to it and said, "Yes?"

"Mr. Clarkson," answered a young female voice, "may I open the door?"

"Sure," he answered hesitantly.

"Than you," she used a manual crank to open the door, "the captain would like to see you on the bridge." She smiled at him. It appeared she was a yeoman and pretty fresh out of the academy. Ben had to admit that he did not understand Starfleet's selection for woman officers' uniforms but could only secretly admire the selection in this moment.

"Not sure I want to go all the way to the bridge, "Ben complained.

"You got something better to do?" asked the yeoman with a questioning smile?

He actually laughed slightly, "I guess not." And followed her.

He found the bridge as dark, dank and quiet as the rest of the ship. He noticed Commander Assad looking at a tricorder screen with interest. The Captain had authorized a download of an image of the Battlestar.

Upon hearing the graduate student enter, the Captain turned and almost seemed excited to see him, "Ah Mr. Clarkson, just wanted to check and see how you were doing?"

"Okay I guess, I mean, not great all things considered." He was truly perplexed by what was going on.

"Well, maybe an academic exercise will take you mind off things. Do you happen know how big an AU is?"

Now Ben was confused. The question certainly seemed random and out of place; however, he did have basic astrometric training so instinctively said," about 150 million kilometers?"

The Captain nodded his head and said, "did you mean '149,597,870,700 meters'?"

"I supposed," the increasingly confused civilian confirmed.

Captain Berg turned to Commander Hasan and said, "Commander, I believe Mr. Clarkson has qualified to be a private astrometric pilot. Can update out logs please? Congratulations Mr. Clarkson, perhaps that will come in handy some day."

"I suppose sir. Is there anything else?" He had no idea what was happening and now was highly concerned that the environment was degrading to a point where the Captain's judgement was being impaired.

"Well maybe one more thing. Do you want to see what we have found? It may be relevant to your thesis. That is the point of your trip, right?"

Ben thought that was the last thing he was worried about but went ahead and looked at the display. He saw an image of an unknown ship. It actually did not appear like anything he had seen before. It seemed to be large and he noticed some lights on the outside.

"Where is this," he said excitedly. A ship could mean rescue.

"About 8 hours away by shuttle. We have a small crew on her now. The name appears to be the Battlestar Olympus. Strange name and we know nothing about her people. Unfortunately, I was just about to bring the crew home. There is no crew onboard and we can't just take her. A private astrometric pilot might be able to claim salvage rights, but as Starfleet officers we can do no such thing."

It started to dawn on Ben what the Captain wanted. It seemed like an incredible run-around in a moment of crisis but had heard that Starfleet officers took their oaths very seriously.

"Sir," he began, "I would like to claim salvage rights on the Battlestar Olympus." He wasn't sure he had said that right. He wasn't sure it really mattered.

The Captain nodded his head and said, "Commander, please make a note in the log. Mr. Clarkson, you now have claim on the alien spaceship known as the Battlestar Olympus. Now, it has come to my attention that you, as a Federation Citizen, have recently come into position of a spaceship. We are a Starfleet vessel in distress and I exercise my rights as a Starfleet officer to commandeer this ship under the Federation Charter until the crisis is over. You will be properly compensated when possible. Any questions or concerns?" He asked.

"No sir," was the short, dumbfounded answer.

"In that case, Commander please begin an evacuation schedule to the Battlestar Olympus. I hope to God we are doing the right thing."


	6. Chapter 6

The Kongo began immediate preparations to move a large portion of the crew to the Olympus. With the shuttles working together, it was going to take them about 1 ½ weeks to move everyone over. Engineer Smith had suggested that they try to move the Olympus closer but nobody had a high level of confidence that they could steer or, more importantly, stop her. The first priority was to offload crew and evacuate non-essential sections of the Kongo. The were to leave a skeleton crew onboard to man the bridge and engineering sections. The energy crisis was still very real but the captain did not want to completely abandon her until absolutely necessary.

The first shuttle runs were almost exclusively crew but cargo began to follow. While the Olympus appeared to have all necessities they would need, there was some Starfleet equipment they wanted to assist in evaluating the ship and for day to day operations. As the crew left, they were able to shut down more and more of ship's life support and stand up the emergency field life support systems on the Bridge and in Engineer. Emergency airlocks were installed; to get from one to the other would require the use of environmental suits. Once the crew transfer was complete, they would leave a shuttle behind in case the Kongo finally had no more to give. Commander Hasan stayed behind to mind the Kongo. The captain originally thought to stay onboard himself but realized that if his crew was on the Olympus, that was his place as well.

On the Olympus, the crew was adjusting to some large differences in accommodations. The crew complement actually appeared to be about the same but some quarters were small and required more sharing than the Kongo crew was used to. Officer's quarters were actually larger. Captain Berg was originally reluctant to take the more luxurious room until it was pointed out to him that it was also the room closest to the bridge.

Captain Berg walked into the control room and looked around. It has been about a week and the crew transfer was about 75% done. As they had combed the ship, they found clothes and other personnel effects left behind that further confounded captain Berg. The Battlestar was doing its part so they were now warm, breathing clean air and well fed. The kitchen had proved interesting. There did not seem to be any food processors in the same the Kongo had. Perishable food was kept in a deep freeze and processed goods available as well. While everything was safe to eat, it was a bit if a guessing game as to how to prepare it and the crew was a bit inexperienced in more traditional cooking methods. Meal times were proving interesting as the crew gradually improved in preparations.

"Report," he called out. Lieutenant Kiko was acting as first officer for now. Lieutenant Scogaska and Lieutenant Commands DeSoto were expected within the next day. Engineer Smith had actually returned to the Kongo to, as the chief engineer put it, "clean up his mess." The crew was planning on a rotation through Kongo if it became necessary.

"Sir, we have arranged for shifts on the bridge and engineering sections. Ensign Gravelson has been working hard to get translations up and posted. The crew is starting to learn how to read Colonial. Since we don't have any verbal communication, the universal translators aren't too much help."

"Do you think Ben Clarkson can help? I believe this falls a bit into his area of study?" asked the Captain, "This is, after all, his ship." The captain tried to be cavalier about the situation but he was still bothered by how much they had skirted the rules. It was not his trademark, and he always felt he should be able to follow Federation ideals regardless of the situation.

"Not sure sir. I'll ask," answered Kiko. "Just to update you, sir. We have identified helm control down here in front. Navigation appears to be all the way back which is a little surprising. There are navigations charts which in some ways make sense but in other ways do not. There are references to multipliers which we don't understand and we have not pinpointed our location yet. Additionally, there is a weapons station and another described as 'viper control'. We're not quite sure what the means but is it looks like it is intended to manage the launch tubes we found."

"What about mobility?" Asked the captain, "I think we would like to go somewhere eventually."

"Well, the helm controls are pretty straight forward. The bigger concern has been engine maneuverability. The Engineering crew believes the engines are actually ready to fire. The power source is unknown but records show that it is called 'Solarium'. We have noted that there appears to be a tremendous amount of fire suppression gear onboard so we should be careful about how we proceed." The Lieutenant paused to give her captain a chance to respond.

"Okay, let's see what we can…" the captain stopped abruptly as he thought he felt something.

"What was that?" he asked.

The crew in the still unfamiliar control room looked at instrumental panels and tried to make sense of them. They heard a couple of more thuds. They seemed to becoming more frequently and possible getting stronger.

"Captain, I think we are under attack!" The exclamation came from Bill Newman who had been watching fire control.

"Explain," said the Captain who bolted towards the station with his acting second in command in tow.

"Sir, this is their scanning system. It is fairly rudimentary but you can see three small blips here. Also, this computer does not like them. There is a ship recognition program here and it shows them as 'Cylon Raiders: Alert Status set'. Watching them, they appear to be on strafing runs."

"Are we sure of the translation?" The captain pulled out a communicator. Internal communications were still being worked out. "Ensign Gravelson to the Control Room immediately."

More thumps followed and then a larger jolt that actually caused a small shutter across the control room.

"Feels like the hit something important," said Kiko.

Captain Berg pulled out his communicator, "all hands, this is the captain. We appear to be under attack from an unknown assailant. Go to Red Alert as best we understand in on this ship. The Olympus is on loan from Mr. Clarkson. I do not want to have to pay him back for it."

"Kiko, do we have any type of ship to ship communication capabilities?"

"I think so sir. We haven't figured out how to communicate to the Kongo yet but if they know these attackers, maybe?" Kiko hoped.

"What about the Universal Translator?" asked the captain?

"Sir the have something the call a languatron. I know, probably bad translation but we can tie it in. Frequency open." Reported Kiko.

"Attacking ship. This is Captain Gerhardt Berg from the USS Kongo. We represent the United Federation of Planets. We are onboard and in control of the Battlestar Olympus and do not wish a conflict. Our Situation is complicated and we would to discuss to avoid a confrontation." Captain Berg knew that stating they were "in control" of the Olympus was a stretch but he needed to reassure them. The last thing he wanted to do was start an interstellar war because of a misunderstanding.

The thumping continued and there were a couple of stronger jolts. "Damage Report," he yelled to no one in particular. Kiko looked around the control room and say some red lights starting to light up. _Some things appeared to be universal, she_ thought to herself. "Not sure sir. Looks like they are starting to take a toll."

Onboard the front Cylon Raider the flight leader was the equivalent of being perplexed. They had been separated from their baseships and did not have enough fuel to get home. Upon seeing the Battlestar, they followed their programming to inflict as much damage as possible. Colonial Vipers were much more effective in combat but harder to replace so any loss was considered a victory for the empire. The Cylon had expected that they would be met with a squadron of vipers and turret fire, but that had not happened. Strangely there was also an attempt to communicate with them which had not happened for almost all of the 1000 Yahrens war. None of that mattered. They had their programming: Kill the Humans.

Captain Berg looked helplessly around the control room. "Any thoughts," he asked?

"Sir, I may have something," it was Samantha Gravelson who had just entered the control room. "There is a switch here that says 'screen positive'."

"Hit it. Maybe it will give us some time." Ordered the captain.

Gravelson pushed the button. Everybody waited. They only saw a metal plate raise to cover the front viewing port. They continued wait. There seemed to be no difference in the now incessant weapons fire.

"Anything?" asked Berg.

"No sir," answered Kiko. "We don't see anything that would be a force screen or other protective counter-measures."

"Well that was disappointing, "Berg muttered.

"Sir, we may have some tactical capabilities," the report came from Bill Newman again. "This ship has 38 turrets which appear to be run from here. They are actually heavily computerized. I think I can get them activated and locked on with some help from Gravelson."

"Go," he said to the young Ensign. "Do not fire unless I order it. Kiko any response to our hails?"

"No sir, but we are getting a report from the Mat tuba. They believe they have not been seen but have been scanning the attackers. There are no signs of life," reported the Lieutenant.

"What are they drones? Confirm the readings and have them scan for anything else out there. "

Captain Berg waited as the attacks seemed to intensify. He didn't know enough about the layout of the Olympus to determine when they were going to be in trouble, but these Cylon Raiders did not seem inclined to stop. If they were just drones, there was no reason for them to stop until they did some real damage.

"Readings confirmed sir," said Kiko.

"Your orders captain," asked Newman.

"Dammit," Berg muttered. "Fire."

The Cylon Flight Leader continued to monitor the response from the Battlestar. No Vipers. No return fire. It did not matter other than the programmed response that would help to protect that Raiders were not activated. They Cylon had no way of knowing if there were crewman onboard and did not care. The Cylon did not even question how there could be a Battlestar here when all but the Galactica were destroyed. The programming was clear. Destroy all Colonial ships and Kill all Humans.

"Continue to attack the Battlestar." The Cylon Leader ordered. It was a bit of an oddity and a holdover from the original Reptilian Cylon race that vocal commands continued to be used between Centurions while computer integration would work much effective; however, the Imperious Leader and the Cylon elite had never seen a reason to change this means of communication.

"By your command," was the response from the helmsman. The three Cylon Raiders lined up for another strafing run. They saw that while most of their attacks were ineffective, there were some areas where they had obviously caused some disruption. They lined up once again and attempted to inflict damage on these areas. Suddenly, they noted movement from the laser turrets closest to them. Four of them turned and fired. The first volley missed all three. This struck the Cylon Leader as odd since he knew the Colonial marksmanship to be much better than this. They continue their attack with ancient programming kicking into to provide some evasive maneuvers to help protect them. Another volley occurred and the Cylon Leader noted that one of the Raiders was destroyed. The Leader's Raider was now in range and opened fire. More damage, this time apparently more significant, was wrought. The turrets fired again and the other Raider was destroyed. The loss did not register any grief or concern for the Cylon Flight Leader. The Raider once again began to circle for another attack when the ship jolted violently. Apparently, they had been hit as well but not destroyed.

"Report," requested the Cylon Flight Leader but received no response. The two other Centurions had been severely damaged in the attack as well. The ship was now open to space which did not matter to the flight leader but he now had no means to fight any more. Having evaluated his situation, the flight leader simply sat waiting for a chance to fight, for the internal power source to run out or for the baseships to find and retrieve the damaged raider.

On board the Olympus, there was celebration as they saw the blips on the Colonial scanners disappear. One remained and did not move.

"You need to work on your aim," chided the Captain. "Report on the remaining vessel" he asked.

"Reports from the Mattuba now. It appears to be badly damaged with minimal power remaining. Should we eliminate it?" Asked Lieutenant Rodriguez.

"No," answered Captain Berg "I want to know what we are dealing with. Let's get the damaged ship in here for investigation. Please advise the Mattuba to begin salvage operations as soon as they in range. Please notify the Chief Engineer and Science Officer that I want them to assist in the investigation as soon as they are onboard."

"Sir," said Security Specialist Newman, "I recommend posting a guard around it."

"Agreed. The risk seems low at this point but take all precautions."

Onboard the damaged Raider, the Cylon Flight Commander noted the approach of an unknown type of ship. There were still no weapons so there was no opportunity to attack. The Shuttle attached what appeared to be a towing beam of some sort and began to pull it into the landing bay of the Battlestar. It continued to wait for stimuli that would trigger its programming. It computed that Kill the Humans would be the most likely to apply.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Event

Chapter 7

The Event

 _Captain's Log Stardate 4523.4. Gerhardt Berg reporting. We continue our journey towards the edge of Federation Space in search of some mysterious signals. They appear to be artificial and of some intelligence but they were too degraded to make sense of. The Kongo has been dispatched to investigate. We are proceeding to the edge of Federation Space and possibly somewhat beyond. We have onboarded a guest; a post graduate student by the name of Ben Clarkson. He is of course somewhat stir crazy and I have had to have a couple of conversations with him about appropriate behavior with our younger female crew members. All in all, this should prove to be a quiet mission._

 _This will be my last mission with the Kongo. I am to be promoted to Commodore and assigned to Star Base 5 to lead up first contact missions. I am excited about the new adventure but I will miss this ship and crew. Some may disagree, but I consider this the finest ship and crew in the Fleet._

Captain Berg signed off from his log entry and looked around the ship. The mission was routine but everybody seemed to be at their post and attentive. The crew had learned enough to never take peace and quiet for granted. He thought briefly about the signals they had received. Not enough to try and interpret or translate, but enough to peak the Federation's interest. He suspected that some higher ups were trying to give him one more chance to make a first contact. He hoped they were successful.

"Commander, what is our status?" he asked the first officer.

"Optimal, sir," was the response. "We are proceeding at Warp 6 and all sensors are at maximum scanning for the signal. So far, no success."

"Well, it is never easy. Please advise Mr. Clarkson of our status and continue on. So, what do you think Assad? Any chance we find something new? I would hate to go out on a dud!"

"We, sir, are a ship of exploration. That usually means we don't know what we will find." He turned away with a smile. The Captain went back to his status reports noting that once again, he would not to speak to the young civilian about proper conduct on a Starship."

"Sir, do you hear something"

The captain looked over at Lieutenant Commander Scogaska and noted that the Andorian's antennae were twitching more than usual.

"No, what is it?" he asked. As soon as he said he noted that Lieutenant Rodriguez at the helm was suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Lieutenant…" he started when all of a sudden, he heard it too. It was very high pitched and pierced his skull. It was not really a sound. More of a feeling that seemed to grow.

"Report!" he yelled as the captain saw that the rest of the crew was suffering as well.

"Nothing on sensors. No indication of any audio signals that should be affecting us. I don't understand what is causing this." Answered the Andorian clearly agitated.

"Sir, there!" yelled Commander Hasan. On the viewscreen, several white balls of lights crossed in front of them.

"Scogaska?" he yelled.

"Nothing sir. No readings."

"Helm, full reverse course. Let's get out of here until we can figure this out."

"Yes sir!" Yelled the young helmswoman. As the shipped turned they noted on the screen something in the distance. It was far away but appeared to be enormous.

"Steer away from it!" Yelled the captain, "We don't know if its…"

And then he was not on the bridge. He was lying on a flat surface and his surroundings were completely white. There seemed to be a slight haze all around him. He looked down and saw that his uniform was completely white. He checked to make sure that his clothes had not been changed but he saw his Starfleet emblem and rank striping was intact.

"You are not the sons of Kobold," said a masculine voice in perfect English, "you should not be here. You cannot be here. You do not travel between the stars."

Captain Berg was disoriented but communicating was better than not. He stood and walked into the main area of the chamber.

"I am Captain Berg of the Federation Starship Kongo. We are a ship of exploration and, with all due respect, do travel between the stars. We came from very far away and have Warp technology which brought us here. We did not mean to intrude on your space and mean you no harm. Why did you attack us and take me prisoner?" He asked.

Suddenly a group of humanoids formed around him. They were also dressed in white and had veils over their faces. By human standards their bodies appeared to be female, but the seasoned captain had been around too long to make any such assumption.

"We did not attack you. We know that sometimes close encounters with us can be uncomfortable but he must decide what to do now. Count Iblis has caused this but we must make it right. The consequences otherwise are too high."

"Oh Iblis, he is a moron. In his desire for power, he has managed to turn space in this region on its head," the captain turned and saw a tall man with black hair and a smug expression on his face. He was wearing a captain's uniform expect his was still the correct color.

"Q, you are not meant to interfere with the Children of Earth for at least 100 years," admonished the white clad group.

"Well you're not going to let him remember anything anyway so what does it matter? I am not hear for him, we need to fix space before things get out of control."

Captain Berg tried to interject, "I am sorry I do not understand. Who is Iblis? Who is Q? What needs fixing? We have very skilled scientists who may be able to help…"

"Oh captain, I see that the arrogance I will see in Jean-Luc runs deep in the DNA of Starship captains. The damage which is done is beyond your ability to understand or even recognize. Not to worry, you have a while before our judgement of your kind begins. In the meantime, this ship of light and I will have to fix the damage that has been done. But there will be consequences and unfortunately, you are the one to pay the price."

"Judgement? Q right, what judgement do you intend to render on us?" The captain was growing more concerned by the event around him.

The mystery man scoffed and went to snap his fingers when the white collective said, "wait, they will be alone and helpless. There must be another way. They do not travel between the stars. This fight is not theirs."

"I cannot simply ignore the realities of the multiverse."

"We can move them to where there is hope. That is all we ask," cried the unified voice of the light.

"Very well. Now shall we…"

And Captain Berg was on the bridge. He thought he was somewhere else but he could not remember. He then realized the noise was gone. There was something, something important but he could not recall. It was like a dream that quickly faded upon waking.

"Captain, the noise appears to have completely disappeared and there are not anymore sightings of lights." Reported Scogaska.

"Okay, let's go to yellow alert and begin a full scan of the area. For now, I would still like to get some space between us and them until we understand what just happened. Reduce speed to Warp 4 and…"

Then the ship stopped. When a starship comes out of Warp there is a notable transition into normal space. During sub-space flight, inertial dampeners were needed even when they didn't always completely stop crew members from being thrown around. Even slight changes in speed were detectable by crewmembers. This was different. They were at Warp and then they were not moving. The lights went our briefly and came back on in emergency mode. The Captain recognized that the emergency batteries had just come on which alarmed him. He heard life support cycle as well as it was transferred to the last refuge of power the ship had.

"Report," he yelled once again.

His first officer was already talking to engineering and other staff. Scogaska was busy on his sensors trying to make sense out of anything.

After a minute, Hasan went back to the captain, "Sir, It appears that the entire dilithium matrix including spares have been blown out. The impulse fusion reactors are completely fused. It appears that long range scanners and sub-space communication are out. The only source of power are the batteries."

"Subspace," piped up Lt. Commander Scogaska. "Everyone of those systems touches subspace in some manner. I will investigate."

"Dammit," muttered the captain. "Okay, full damage assessment. Begin power conversation measures. We may be here a while."

"Captain," interrupted Kiko Rodriguez, "we have moved."

"What was that?" asked the Captain.

"The stars are different. We are not in the same place we were before."

The captain looked at the viewscreen. The helmswoman was right. The stars were different "But how is that possible. We don't travel between the stars," said Captain Berg without thinking.

"Excuse me sir," asked Commander Hasan perplexed.

"We don't trav…I am not sure. Something I think I heard once. Not important right now, Commander. We have work to do."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Lieutenant Commander DeSoto examined the damaged Cylon Raider. He noted that the design was significantly different than what they had found on the Olympus. He reviewed his tricorder readings and saw that the power signature was similar, but not identical, to Colonial technology. The ship was circular with an oval shape and downward turned tips. The form of the craft hinted that the ship was able to fly atmospherically as well as in space. Like the Battlestar, he found no signs of warp signatures but some tachyon displacement was evident. No FTL capability was not surprising as even for the Federation, this would be a very small warp capable vessel but it remained a mystery how this ship along with the Olympus was so far from a solar system.

Next to him was the Andorian Science Officer Scogaska. DeSoto did not fully understand why he was there as this was an obvious engineering problem but Commander Hasan insisted. The Andorian was taking his own readings. His analysis showed that there were characteristics to the metal in the hull that he had not seen before other than in the Olympus itself. Somehow it seemed to be influenced by sub-space but not in a way he could explain. Scogaska did not understand why the Engineer was here since this was an obvious science problem but Commander Hasan had insisted.

Next to him was the security guard Bill Newman. He was carrying a phaser II and was there as a precaution since they had brought an alien ship onboard. Bill thought there was some irony in that since they were also the aliens on the Olympus as well. The security guards were well trained though thanks to Commander Hasan's influence, and he understood the requirement.

DeSoto looked up from his tricorder when he heard his communicator chirp. "DeSoto here," he responded.

"Status," came the inquiry from Commander Hasan. The captain had asked him to lead the investigation into the strange ship.

"Small craft that would be capable of carrying 2 to 4 humanoids. No life signs including any indication of a deceases crew. This is powered by a very volatile substance similar to the fuel for the Olympus. That section of this battlestar is heavily shielded. For a ship of this size, it would be almost impossible to provide that type of protection. Most likely the other two raiders were destroyed in a good sized explosion. Looks like this one got clipped and the shot missed the fuel source."

"Do you think that this is a fighter craft of some sort? I know we were attacked but are they actually small craft attacks on capital ships? _(A/N I will get specific about why this would shock the commander)_

"Looks that way. Gives us some insight into battel strategies. One other thing sir. There seems to be some type of independently powered system onboard. I would like to take a look and see if it can give us some insights."

"Very well," responded the commander, "maybe it's their equivalent of a blackbox. Please coordinate with the security staff and take all precautions. Oh, I asked Ensign Gravelson and Mr. Clarkson to join you. Samantha may be able to help with any markings and Mr. Clarkson studies may come in handy."

Scogaska and DeSoto looked at each other. Scogaska interjected, "sir, I know Mr. Clarkson's studies may have peripheral value but perhaps that could wait until…"

"Scogaska I get it. I am not asking you babysit. I am hoping he can find a place with some value. Maybe at least the complaints from the female crew will subside a bit."

"So to that end you are sending Samantha Gravelson here as well?"

"I know, she is a trained officer and can take care of herself. Keep me updated."

On board the Cylon Raider, the flight commander continued to assess the situation. It had determined that all of its onboard systems were functioning as expected. The Raider was severely damaged, possibly beyond repair. It has been brought onto a Battlestar which was not consistent with Imperial Reports about the destruction of the colonies. It knew that the Galactica had escaped and was being pursued. There were also reports that the Pegasus had been spotted but there had been no reports about the Olympus for almost 2 Yahrens. It had located its laser rifle and had determined that no action would simply lead to its discovery and destruction. With that inevitability, it followed its directive to cause much damage as possible and "Kill the Humans". It stood up and walked down towards the hatch.

"Ensign Gravelson reporting as ordered sir," the young linguistic surprised the Chief Engineer who had been intent on finalizing the energy signature before attempting to open it. Scogaska had naturally heard her approaching long before.

"Ben Clarkson here as well,"

"Okay," said DeSoto, "Ensign do you see anything?"

She took one quick look at the alien vessel, "sir, I actually reviewed some of the images we took. There are limited markings on the craft. None of them are of Earth origin that I can see. They actually remind me of the Gorn language but it is completely unknown."

DeSoto began, "well, let's look at getting inside. Maybe there will be something more interesting."

Suddenly there was a clank as the bottom hatch of the Raider opened. Everybody turned in that direction with a start only to see a humanoid figure simply drop out of the bottom of the craft and land on the Landing Bay deck with a large thud. It was wearing some type of silver armor and had what appeared to be a rifle type weapon in its hand. It also appeared to be wearing a visor with red oscillating center that moved in a rhythmic pattern. Bill Newman grabbed his phaser and took a shot at the intruder that seemed to have no impact. The phaser had been set to stun and appeared to have no effect. Newman assumed that the armor had protected the alien and reached down to change the settings on weapon when he felt a searing pain in his abdomen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bright flash and looked up to see the rifle pointed at him. The world around him began to go black. _I have to protect them,_ was last thought before he fell to the ground.

The Flight Leader, now in ground centurion mode, noted that one human had been eliminated. The weapon he had used did not register with the Cylon. The human had made a direct hit but the discharge had been minimal. He automatically logged the new device as potentially dangerous and looked for other humans with such a device. He did not find one so he turned to the next target. Its initial analysis registered it as human based on shape and size but when the Cylon's targeting system activated, the more detailed analysis did not meet requirements. The color was wrong and there were two antennae protruding from the head. Cylon's were committed to the destruction of humanity but did maintain some relations with other races. The Cylon had no record of this species but it was not armed so it moved on to the next target. A human female.

Samantha Gravelson looked on in horror at the fallen body of Bill Newman. She did know him well but he had always been nice to her especially once they got into their current situation. The armored alien seemed momentarily stunned by the phaser blast but had recovered quickly and simply shot the security guard with his rifle. The discharge had been a blast that tore right through the would-be protecter. The alien now had trained his weapon on Scogaska but hesitated. She then realized that he had turned the weapon on her. She froze as she imagined her fate when she heard a "No!" and felt someone tackle her just as the Cylon Energy weapon discharged again. She fell to the ground and saw Ben Clarkson lying on top of her. Her first incongruent thought was _"I bet he loves this,"_ She had been one of the unfortunate recipients of some unwanted attention. She then realized that he was writhing in pain and had been hit in the leg.

"Gravelson get out of there!" It was DeSoto who had found cover behind some cargo containers. Scogaska was looking for the fallen phaser only to see that it had been destroyed in the blast. The Andorian wasn't sure why he wasn't a target but was trying to take advantage of it. He was yelling at the invader but the Cylon had no interest in him. Samantha realized that she did not have cover and Ben would not be able to run. She took off her tricorder and threw it at the Cylon and begin to run. They were near the entrance to the Landing Bay and she was close to one of the first launch tubes they had encountered early on. They had not done a complete inspection of these tubes yet as they seemed a lower priority to other items such as propulsion, food, etc. She began to run towards the nearest blast door. It turned out; this was a tube they had not yet explored.

The Centurion reacted to the attack and took off in pursuit. Cylons are not nimble but can move quickly in a straight line. Samantha raced to get to the door and pushed what she thought was the combination to open it. Nothing happened. Suddenly to her immediate right she saw a flash where the Cylon had shot at her. "Blue, Blue, Red!" she heard DeSoto yell at her. She typed that in quickly and the door opened. She ran into what she had assumed would be an empty tube and was surprised to find a vessel inside. It was smaller than a Federation Shuttlecraft and almost looked like an earth air vehicle from a couple of hundred years ago. It had three wings and a very different, sleek appearance than the Cylon Raider. She briefly noted that there was an open panel on the side of the engines. She ran in looking for a hiding place knowing she had very little time before the attacker would be upon her. In moment of inspiration, she thought about how the Mattuba and the other shuttlecrafts carried a cache of weapons. This ship was obviously built for war so it seemed likely that it would have a backup as well.

There was a small ladder leading up to the cockpit. She quickly climbed up and saw a release that opened the canopy. She climbed in and thought about closing it but did not immediately see how to do that. She reached around the cockpit as she heard the heavy metal footprints getting close. On the right side was a compartment that she hoped to God was right. She pulled on the front and it popped off immediately. Inside she found what she was looking for. It was a large hand weapon, much bigger than a type II phaser. The operation seemed simple enough, point at the bad guy and pull the trigger. The Cylon entered the larger chamber and she tried to do just that. With no result. Nothing happened. She quickly looked at the weapon and saw a switch that could be set to red or blue. It was currently on red so she moved it to blue and tried again.

The Cylon entered the Viper Launch tube and saw the human woman sitting behind the controls of a Colonial Viper. She was also aiming a blaster at it. This weapon it could identify, and it know that a Blaster could severely damage and destroy the Centurion. The Cylon did not fear death but it did have some basic self-protection sub routines to avoid needless destruction of a war unit. As that kicked in, it realized that the woman had not fired yet. She was inspecting the blaster when the Cylon took aim. She pointed at the Cylon again and this time the Blaster did fire. The Flight Leader registered a hit to its upper torso. This did not immediately deactivate it but its ability to aim and fire was gone. A second shot destroyed its power supply. As the residual power drained out of its system, the Cylon did register that it killed one human and injured another at the cost of one Centurion. That was considered a glorious success for the empire.

"Gravelson, you there?!" The voice was that of Commander Hasan. He ran into the launch tube with 5 security guards in tow. Two of them had phaser rifles and all had their phasers set to disintegrate.

"I am here," she called from the cockpit. She was starting to shake and was not sure she could get down from the cockpit by herself. She thought she might cry but found she was too stunned to do so.

"Ensign, what happened?" She was still sitting in the cockpit not sure what do to. Commander Hasan went to the ladder and climbed up it. "Samantha, what is in your hand?" Samantha realized she was still holding the foreign weapon. "Why don't you give it to me?" She handed over the weapon and quickly made a note that they commander may now know about the safety.

"Commander, there is a safety there. It was on when I found it."

"Ensign that was quick thinking and you probably saved a few lives. Not bad for your first outing."

"Bill?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"I am sorry. We are all caught off guard. It looks like that thing is a robot of some sort. That's why there were no life forms. It is also very unusual to have a machine run another machine. Now that we know, we'll take better precautions. Ben will be okay by the way. It doesn't make the loss of Ben other better but it is something."

"Okay. They both saved my life. I couldn't' save Bill's…I think I should get down from here."

"Yeah you made an interesting discovery here. Looks like this ship was under maintenance when the Olympus was abandoned. You need a hand?"

Her nerves had calmed and she did not want to appear frail. She stood up and forced her arms and legs to make the proper motions to move down the stairs. By the time she got down, Lieutenant Rodriguez had joined them. She saw in the landing bay that a medical crew had covered Bill Newman 's body. Ben Clarkson had already been taken away for treatment. Security staff was stationed around the Raider armed with Phaser Rifles. Kiko gave her a pat in the shoulder and went to look at the new ship.

"It's a Viper," said Kiko. "We found a simulator on the lower deck that looks just like this. I think we can fix it. I believe it's the Colonial answer to these Raiders," Even with the recent tragedy, the officers of the Kongo knew they had to keep their head in the game. They would honor their fallen comrade soon enough.

Commander Hasan was standing there in silence for a moment when his communicator chirped. "Hasan here."

"Hasan, Berg. We have another problem. Lieutenant Weiler is dead." Hasan was shocked. Weiler was one of the environmental engineers who wasn't anywhere near the action.

"What happened?" He asked

"Regner's syndrome. Apparently, this ship is infected with it."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Doctor Elizabeth Wesson sat across from the Captain. Despite everything, her services had not been needed either immediately after the event or onboard the Olympus. She had explored the battlestar and discovered the equivalent of a sickbay that Ensign Gravelson told her was called "Life Sciences Center". All of a sudden, she had two deaths and a critical injury in addition to finding herself on a ship infected with Regner's syndrome. She sat across from Captain Berg and Commander Hasan.

"How could Weiler die of Regner's? Wasn't he inoculated?" asked the commander.

"I can only assume he was. It is a Starfleet requirement. Without access to the library computer, I cannot say for sure. It is possible his parents protested vaccination and got a deferment but more likely it just did not take. It happens occasionally. Regener's is a tricky disease and the vaccine is not as fullproof as we would like."

Regner's Syndrome was deadly and catastrophic. One of the first spaceborne viruses discovered, it had the ability to encapsulate itself in microscopic shell that protected it from the extremes of space. It could drift for decades or even centuries until it came across carbon-based life forms. Once it was detected, the virus would come alive and basically drain its victim of nutrients to reproduce. Even today, it was not clear what triggered the virus to activate but once it did, it was a horrible event. Early space explorers had ships decimated in hours as they watched their crewmates wither and die. What made it especially deadly was that once a confined space such as a spaceship was contaminated, the spore could stay inert almost indefinitely which led to rescue and medical crews falling sick during rescue efforts.

"Captain, I have ordered tastren gas to be shipped from the Kongo on the next shuttle run. We should have enough to saturate the Olympus and clear out the infection. It should be taken care of in the next 24 hours. We do know that once this virus is activated, if you left inert for about 6 months in an oxygen atmosphere, it will die off." The doctor took a breath, "I wonder if this explains what happened to the crew."

"What do you mean," asked the captain, " we haven't found any corpses."

"No, but if they did not have a vaccine or cure, the best answer is to get off the ship asap. If you leave life support on, you could come back in a few months. Can I borrow Samantha Gravelson to help with some of the medical journals? I may be able to find something out."

"Just make sure you take care of the infection," emphasized the captain somewhat needlessly.

Ensign Gravelson was looking over the medical logs of the Olympus with Dr. Wesson. The logs were encrypted but the Kongo's portable computers had easily overcome it. The tastren gas had arrived from the Kongo and had been distributed via the Olympus' ventilation system. Dr. Wesson assured her that any residual infection would be eradicated but she was still a bit unnerved by everything. She had a feeling that the last couple of days had not yet taken their final toll on her.

"Doctor, I think I found something. There is a protocol for 'Hades' plague' which looks a lot like Regner's. They seemed to understand that is was space borne and deadly with a very unpredictable infection pattern. They did not have a cure. The protocol is basically when it is detected is to drop everything and get off the ship immediately. No exceptions. That might explain why this ship is just hanging out here."

Elizabeth nodded but added, "but where did they go? The nearest system is two light years away. At warp, a short journey but it would take what, a hundred years to get there at best speed?" She paused for a moment. "Okay, summarize your findings and I'll let the captain know."

Samantha looked into the adjacent room where the remains of the Cylon centurion lay. Lieutenant Commander Scogaska was going over the wreckage and making notes. The lieutenant walked up to him inquisitively.

"What do you make of our friend?" she asked. Scogaska looked up for a moment and shrugged.

"An interesting piece of technology. In same ways very crude. The motor mechanism is simple and its strength is really based on brute force more than engineering finesse; however, the computational capabilities are interesting. It seems very poor at multitasking. When it shot at Mr. Newman, it was stationary and easily hit the target, but, when it took to pursuing you, its shot efficiency went down greatly. It was also easily provoked into a poor strategic decision of following you despite the more advantageous choice being to stay and cause more damage to the crew on site. Much to my good fortune, it is also able to make very nuanced decisions. It seemed to recognize that I was not human despite a general resemblance and did not attack me for that reason. I am still working out all of the technical aspects of the entity but it is formidable."

"Hmm" she said trying not to take the off-hand comments to heart. She was still shaky about the last couple of days. To distract herself, she took a look around the room. She had not spent any time here.

"What is this place?" she asked.

"It seems to be a combination sickbay and science lab. Mr Clarkson is over there if you wanted to see him."

Samantha walked over to the injured student. "Well, I see you found a way to get out if performing work details," she quipped.

He looked up and tried to smile, "you know I own this ship, right? You should be nicer."

"I don't think I am going to be as nice as you want me to be," she responded. She did take a breath and said more sincerely, "thanks for saving my life."

"I was just trying to cop a feel," he replied. "I think I got away with it."

Despite herself she smiled slightly but gave a disapproving look. To change the mood, she started looking at what were apparently sample trays in the science area. She saw similar symbols to what she had before. Almost without thinking she began to translate.

Σίδερο –Iron

Άνθρακας – Carbon

δι-λεπιδόλη _What the hell was that. Bi-lepidolite? Never heard of it. What something seems familiar._

She poked her head into the other room where the Andorian Science officer was still working, "Scogaska, any idea what bi-lepodolite might be? "

Scogaska looked up with a start. "Where did you see that he asked?" The urgency on his face surprised her.

"There's a specimen box in here labelled with it."

He ran into the room and looked around almost franctically "Where!?"

The young ensign pointed at the correct container inquisitively. "What is it?"

"Lepidolite is another work for Lithium. I think you just dilithium."

Captain Berg, Commander Hasan Lieutenant Commander Scogaska, Chief Engineer DeSoto and Crewman Smith all crowded around the container awaiting the verdict from Scogaska about the composition of the material they found. There were a number of crystals of various shapes.

"It's dilithium. They must have found it somewhere and kept is an oddity. For a ship with no warp, it would have no value."

"Chief, are these usable?" asked Hasan. The crystals certainly did not resemble the well-formed inserts that the Kongo normally used.

"I don't know captain. They certainly don't meet Starfleet standards. The quality isn't bad but the shape is going to be an issue."

"Commander if I may," interjected Andrew Smith," Commander Scott of the Enterprise had a similar problem on the Enterprise and was able to fit crystals of about these composition into their warp drive and even went into combat with them. They actually came off a necklace."

Captain Berg looked at the eager engineer, "Are you comparing yourself to Mr. Scott?" he asked.

"No sir. Bluntly it was a combination of Engineering skill and luck that got them through; however, at the academy one of our projects was to recreate that feat. We were able to fit and run a warp drive through crystals that were not in any better shape than these. Well, in a simulator. But they are very accurate as you know, sir."

"Commander?" has asked.

"Sir, this is the best chance we've had in over a month. Crewman, can we test in advance somehow before we actually try to bring warp drive back online?"

"Commander, the power distribution system is a mess. We had to make a lot of modifications to meet the power requirements," DeSoto made sure to take charge of the conversation and, at the same time, his engineering team.

"Alright, DeSoto get a crew back to the Kongo and let's start putting things back together. Scogaska, see what we can do in terms of a preflight simulation. In the meantime, let's keep word of this quiet until we know what we are actually looking at," the captain looked at each crew member to ensure that the orders were understood.

Satisfied, he took out his communicator and said, "Berg to Rodriguez."

"Yes sir."

"We are going to need a shuttle run to the Kongo and I would like you to pilot. Top priority and precious cargo."

"Yes sir. Oh, by the way, I was able to fix the Viper we found. The repairs were pretty simple. I have been spending some time in their flight simulator and I would love to take it out. It may come in handy."

"Later Lieutenant," of _course she was spending her spare time fixing an alien ship,_ he thought. "This comes first."

"Yes sir," she responded, somewhat disappointed.

"Captain to the Control room. Captain to the control room," a voice suddenly bellowed through the hallways. The Federation crew had not gotten into the habit of using the ship's internal communication system but they did develop an alert system using it.

"Now what?" he mumbled. "Come Commander. Apparently, we have work to do."

A few minutes later, he arrived in the large command room. He recognized right away that the control was in an alert mode. The crew was not agitated, they had seen too much for that, but a readiness that had saved them many times before.

"Report," Captain Berg ordered. He noticed that Lieutenant Kiko Rodriguez had beaten him to bridge and was looking at the alert system. It was flashing red as it had when they first encountered the cylon raiders. Somehow it seemed more menacing this time.

"Looks like three large ships have come into the edge of scanner range for the Olympus, sir. Each seems larger than this battlestar, much larger than the Kongo. Not moving particularly quickly but definitely heading this way. It is not clear on whether or not they see us."

"Any more information?" he asked.

"Yes Sir, the computer identifies them as baseships. Every weapons system on the Olympus has some on automatically."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Lieutenant Pan sat overlooking the valley that his pod had settled into. Pan had communication monitoring duty which was a boring if necessary duty. Of the 10 pods, they had had contact with 8 over the last sectar. They cloud only assume the worse for the other two. The crew of the Olympus was getting close to being able to return and complete the deep space mission they had embarked on. _I guess the peace treaty has already been signed, h_ e thought to himself. The Olympus had its fair share of encounters with Cylons before heading into deep space but that was to be over before they left. Their mission had been simple. As a precaution, they had been sent out to make sure the Cylons were not attempting a pincer maneuver during the peace ceremony. They were supposed to be back in plenty of time of time for the signing ceremony (and more importantly, the celebration). But then they got hit with the Hades' Plague. Three warriors died suddenly and the doctor quickly identified the disease.

So they had sat here on this deserted planet waiting out the prescribed time. They had already just passed the maximum time the virus should be able to survive and were now waiting through the "safety" phase. The last thing they wanted to do was return to the Battlestar before the virus was completely eradicated. Someone or someones would die and the whole cycle would start again. What still struck everybody as odd was that there was no word from the Colonies. They had sent out a distress call which should have been received by now.

The receiver was set up under a tent next to his Viper. Other than occasional background noise, they had heard nothing. They were out of communication range with the colonies but the direct distress beacon should have reached them. At a minimum the fact that they had not returned should have caused some interest. The Colonial fleet knew their course and there was really only one way to get here when one travelled between the stars. The silence was eerie and made the crew wonder what was going on. Fortunately, in a few sectons they would be able to go back and find out for themselves.

Lost in thought, Pan almost missed the blinking red light on the communication device. He had to look twice to make sure he read it right. _What the frak!_ He thought and began running to the main base as fast as he could.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"What do we know about these Baseships?" asked Captain Berg. They had quickly determined that the Cylons were not approaching the Olympus, at least not yet. The automated weapons systems were fully engaged and they made a decision not to try and turn them off. Captain Berg still could not shake the feeling that he was being forced to fight someone else's war.

"Not much," answered Commander Hasan. They were sitting in a large, ornate conference room. In addition to the captain and first officer were the Chief Engineer, Doctor, the Science Officer and the helmsman, Kiko Rodriguez. "We have been somewhat reluctant to dig around their computer systems too much since that seems invasive, but if we have truly claimed salvage rights, it might be time. Those ships are big and if the Cylon Raider has taught us anything it is that their technology seems on par with the Colonials."

Captain Berg nodded thoughtfully. "Have we learned anything else about the Cylons from the Raider in the hanger?" The loss of a crewman still hung over his head. He ultimately felt he had failed Security Guard Newman by not being cautious enough. He couldn't dwell on that now but he would when he was able to notify Starfleet and his family.

"The ship is obviously a small attack craft. That seems to be a primary strategy of attack for both the Cylons and the Colonials." Hasan raised an eyebrow at the statement. "The ship seems to be sublight and has somewhat limited range." Continued Lieutenant Commander DeSoto, "I assume they came from the baseships. If the Kongo were fully functional, we would probably be okay in battle but in this battlestar, I don't know."

"Captain, we also have to consider the Kongo's safety or at least not allow it be to captured by the Cylons. She is a sitting duck right now." That was Kiko making this statement. "Their ships would have the range to get to her if they found her location."

"There are a couple of peculiar elements to the Raider we should keep in mind. It is highly unusual and inefficient for machines to fly machines. The Raider does not have any type of self or automating control system and is built for a crew of three. I have also noted that three seems to be a dominant theme for the Cylons. We were attacked by three raiders, there are three baseships in formation, they fly in teams of three." Scogaska took a moment to pause as he gathered his thoughts. "I wonder if they run trinary computer systems. It might explain a lot."

"Trinary?" asked Kiko.

"Computers originally ran binary code. No matter how much sophistication was built into them, they ultimately processed one and zeros one at a time. This was based around a charge or no charge to the circuit; however, there were some experiments done on a trinary system that would include positive, negative and null. The doutronic chip made that obsolete but the colonials and cylons may have kept down that track."

"All that is interesting information, Scogaska, but I don't think it helps the immediate situation." Interjected Captain Berg. "I have to believe that those baseships are analyzing the situation and given the warm reception we have received so far, once they figure out that we are alone and possibly incapacitated in some way, they will probably attack. First question, are they all machines? I would have less heartburn damaging robots than I would taking a life over a misunderstanding."

No one answered. DeSoto finally said, "there is no way to know sir."

"Sir, we still have the dilithium. If we can get to the Kongo, we can bring her back online," Commander Hasan looked around the room for approval.

"DeSoto what about it?" Asked the captain.

"Well it's not just about fitting the dilithium crystals. The entire power distribution system was gutted during our stay. It would take some time to get in back in order."

"But, we maybe able to make due," said Hasan. "If were able to bring the warp drive online, we can divert power to shields, weapons and impulse engines. We can almost make a switch between the warp drive and secondary systems." Proposed Hasan.

"That is risky," stated the captain. "What about computer, life support, you know, all those nice to haves?"

"You know we could flash charge the batteries," said the chief engineer, more surprised than anybody that he said it.

"Is that wise?" asked Kiko.

"No," said the Captain, "but wise may not due it today. Kiko how long to get back to the Kongo if you disregard fuel concerns?"

"Probably make it in 6 hours," she said.

"Alright get ready for departure. Commander, you the Chief, lieutenant Rodriguez get to the Kongo and bring her back online. Pick an engineering crew and bring her here. We can staff her fully once you are in transporter range."

"Captain, it should be Crewman Smith that goes," said DeSoto. The Captain looked inquisitively at him. "I can run an Engine room as well as anybody in the fleet. I kept the Kongo running exactly as she should, even better. But we need it to do something it wasn't supposed to and Smith is your man for that." The captain looked at the engineer with a new respect. It was not easy to admit something like that to your superior. "Besides you need someone to make this ship run like she is supposed to and that I can do. And if Smith makes a mess of things, I can make him clean it up."

"Alright," said the captain. "Crewman Smith to the landing bay ASAP."

Kiko Rodriguez swallowed slightly at the thought of being on the same mission as him. She did, however, have another idea that she was reluctant to bring. "Sir, if I may?"

"Quickly, I think we need to get going." Responded Berg.

"I think I should fly the Viper. I have been trying out their simulators and should be able to fly it. The shuttle is not armed and if they run into trouble, they would have no protection. It would at least give them a chance since I would probably be the first target."

"I need you at the Helm, Lieutenant," answered the captain.

"Thank you, sir. But if we don't make it, it won't matter."

The captain sighed and wondered when he lost control of his crew. "Very well. Commander, I guess you have the con for the shuttle ride over."

The Supreme Commander on the lead baseship sat atop the command chair. The seating arrangement was a relic of the original race that had created them, but the programming was strong and still held on. He was considering the information that it had. A battlestar had been sighted sitting in space. At first he assumed that it was the Galactica but Baltar had reported pursuing them in a distant sector so that seemed impossible. He also considered the Pegasus but the timing it its last knows was also too far away. The attack force on Caprica had reported that all other battlestars had been destroyed. It was a mystery but it did not change his primary mission which was to destroy all human forces.

A battlestar was not to be trifled with. A patrol had not returned and they could only assume that a viper squadron had taken them out. Despite the Cylon's superior forces, the colonials often fought with inferior numbers and managed to achieve stunning victories. The Supreme Commander knew the Cylon was far away and he could not call in any more resources. He needed to make sure that there was nothing else that could tilt the attack against him. He had ordered the ships to engage in deep space scanning and bring back results. Just at that moment, a centurion came into the command chamber.

"By your command," it intoned.

"Report, centurion," boomed the large automaton.

"Our scans show that the battlestar has not moved. We also are not detecting any vipers in the area. Another ship has been detected." The Centurion had no emotion in that statement.

"What ship?" he demanded.

"Unknown. We cannot identify it."

"That changes things. Send an attack wing to the unknown ship with orders to determine its capabilities and origins. If it is human, we will destroy it. In the meantime, we must plan to attack quickly. We attack as soon as the alien ship is engaged."

Samantha Gravelson was working with the science officer to go through the computer records as they related to baseships. Scogaska had developed a search algorithm to find all references and they were going through them on a monitor.

"These Cylons seem pretty nasty," she said out loud.

"Try not to make judgements. We are trying to avoid conflict if we can," reminded the Andorian.

"But look at these baseships. Even the Olympus has some scientific study capabilities. The Cylons just built war machines."

"Just keep looking Ensign," replied the Andorian.

She shrugged and flipped to the next record. She had found communications logs, many of which talked about the Cylons and their encounters. Both sides seemed fixated on small craft attack with an attempt to overwhelm the other side. The Colonials seemed to have a better fighting force but the Cylons always had numbers. Surprisingly, they seemed to be getting close to peace with an enemy that from all appearances had no interest in it. She flipped to the last communique on record and read through it. She let out a gasp that caused the Andorian to look up.

"Ensign?" he asked. Her face still showed her shock at what she saw.

"There is a fleetwide message that came in after the crew of the Olympus was abandoned. The peace accord was a trap. They…"

"What peace accords?" Asked Scogaska.

"They were planning for peace. There was to be a large signing ceremony. But it was a trick!"

The science officer looked over the shoulder of the young ensign. His antennae twitched and he nodded slightly.

"We'll tell the captain," he said. "But we need to get this information together. It now more important than ever.

In the landing bay, the landing team met briefly. Commander Hasan addressed Andrew Smith, Lieutenant Rodriguez along with the small engineering crew they had assembled. They could not operate the Kongo beyond basic functions, but they should be able to get her close enough to the Olympus to transport a crew onboard. Commander Hasan had asked the captain if he shouldn't be the one to retake the Kongo. He was the captain; however, captain Berg had insisted that his crew was here and for now that is where he belonged.

"Do you have everything you need crewman?" Hasan asked the young engineer. He was beginning to have concerns about entrusting this operation to such a young startfleet member but deferred to DeSoto's decision.

"Yes sir," he said looking down at the dilithium. "The specs for fitting the crystals are in my quarters. Everything else should be in engineering."

"Lieutenant, you sure you want to do this?" he looked at Kiko who had donned a Colonial flight helmut.

"Oh, I have been wanting to take this bird out for a while," she smiled, "besides, it seems like our best bet."

"Alright listen up, we will have to use environmental suits when we land. The hanger deck is still open to space and life support has given out a while ago. Engineering and the Bridge have been equipped with emergency airlocks and portable life support systems. When we land, we all go to engineering to get things back online. Once that happens," _don't say if_ Hasan thought to himself, "Kiko and I will go to the bridge. We have to get the computer and automatic systems back online so we get maneuver the Kongo here. Nothing fancy. Now what we don't know is how long our Cylon friends will stay out there. The Olympus is in no better shape to handle them than we are, mostly because we do not know what we are doing." That got a small chuckle. "Do not waste time but let's try not to blow up the Kongo either. That is a lot of paperwork."

"Ready?" he asked looking at Kiko. With a nod and smile she ran into the launch tube and climbed into the cockpit. She activated the comm channel to the flight control in the command central.

"Command, I am ready to launch." She had gone over this in the simulator but was still nervous. Over the comm she heard Chief Engineer DeSoto respond, "opening external doors. Launch when ready." She looked down at the joystick and made sure the engines were on. She pressed the middle button and the turbos kicked in propelling the Viper through the launch area. She realized she was pulling several G's which she had not experienced since flight school. Suddenly she was clear of the tube and in space. She struggled for a moment to gain control and eased back on the thrust. After a couple of experimental turns, she calmed down and realized that the simulator was a pretty good approximation. She looked around and saw the Mattuba leaving the landing bay by more conventional means. She turned and matched course and speed. She turned on the communication system and called to the Mattuba.

"Rodriguez to Mattuba come in,"

"Mattuba here," answered crewman Smith. She sighed slightly to herself relishing the flight in the Viper but wishing she was closer to him. "I got your backside!"

"You know I was thinking that you getting that into the hanger bay could be interesting. Not a lot of room to work with." He replied snarkely.

"I'll get her in. I have 6 hours to get the hang of it. I'll bet you a steak dinner on it."

"It's a date," he replied causing her more excitement than she cared to admit.

Through the banter, no one noticed that in the far distance some lights were not moving as stars. They did not notice the very soft hum that when much louder had once overtaken the Kongo. What they could not see was the ship of lights far behind them tracking the motion of the shuttlecraft and viper. It did not approach but waited and observed. The many beings of light inside fretted over the meeting of the Cylons and the children of Earth. _If only the understood how to travel between the stars,_ they thought as they watched the Federation crew fight valiantly despite the odds. The figure of Q came to watch as well. He stood dressed in a captain's uniform with gold and black colors still vibrant and pure while all other colors were variations of white. "Why are you so concerned with them? We fixed Iblis' fiasco."

"Their fate is our doing." The many voices responded. "The next few centars will be difficult."

"Yes, but let's call them hours. It's the least I can do. And the most I will." With a blink he was gone and the creatures of light continued to watch events unfurl.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 _A/N: I am honestly trying to get this to a (hopefully) satisfactory conclusion. Work keeps getting in the way but I seem to have a bit of a lull so I'll see what I can crank out. I know where I want this to go so hopefully I can get it there._

The Mattuba and Viper approached the Kongo. She hung in space as they remembered but seemed even more desolate than before. The emergency batteries had given up entirely a few days before, and they had abandoned the minimal staffing they had. Now that they approached her, the crew had flashbacks to the glory of the Constitution class ship and the horror of the last few weeks that they had been onboard. Regardless of all of that, the crew was home and they were going to bring her back, get her her crew and hopefully go home. But first they had to deal with the Cylons. Everything they had seen led them to believe that the Kongo was more than a match for Cylon technology. No Warp Drive, Small attack craft and no shielding technology. The computers were both remarkedly primitive and amazingly sophisticated at the same time. A race of robots that they now understood were barbarians and killers. For most of them, doubts about simply engaging the Cylons were quickly dissipating. Commander Hasan knew that the captain was not as sure about an all out offensive but he felt that his duty was to give him the option.

Commander Hasan flew the shuttle to the rear of the Kongo and lined it up with the open hanger bay door. There were no guidance beacons for him this time so he came in much slower than he normally would. He carefully maneuvered over the gravity lip and set the ship down the right side close the interior door. Among other things, he wanted to make sure that Kiko had room to land. They looked anxiously as she lined up the Viper itself. Than much to everybody's shock, she spun it around and started backing in. She managed to miss the hanger door and brought the Viper down with a bit of a thud. She opened the comm channel, "I'll take a porterhouse, thank you."

"What was that?" demanded Hasan.

"It occurred to me that I could get in but had no idea how we would turn it around to get back out again. Should have warned you, sorry."

"Yeah next time you have to land an alien vessel onto a powerless hanger deck floor, make sure you follow procedures," he chided. "Good thinking. A heads up would have been nice."

The crew began to put on their environment suits. Kiko had an air mask to get her to the Mattuba to fully suit up. The air was taken out of the Mattuba and the crew went to the interior door. Kiko was much less comfortable but made it as well. Once inside, they closed the door and went into a small room which could be self-contained. Smith had brought a portable life support device and they filled the room for Kiko. She took a moment to gather herself and put her own suit on. They left and went to Engineering. On the way, they stopped by Andrew Smith's quarters and found the storage tape that had his dilithium academy project on it. Kiko gave him a dirty look about the state of things but he just shrugged and led them to Engineering.

Once in the Engineering, they went through the emergency airlock and activated the portable life support system. The took off their helmets but did not remove the outer garment. The warp core continued to glow red, almost in defiance of the lack of power.

"What's the plan?" asked Commander Hasan.

Andrew Smith was looking at his tricorder refreshing his memory about what he had done.

"Okay, we going to use a warp calibration meter and place the crystals in the dilithium and move the crystals around until it is balanced. We are going to use emergency reinforcement strips from the antimatter container to hold them in place."

"Sounds tricky," said Kiko.

"Oh that's not the hard part. We then have to divert power to the emergency batteries and flash charge them without blowing them out." The amount of power needed to power life support, the computers and even impulse power was trivial compared to that needed for warp drive, phasers, and defensive screens. The emergency batteries were designed to take an enormous amount of charge in a very short time that could be used years later. In theory the Warp Drive could charge the batteries inside of a minute. The danger was you could overcharge them and destroy them. "The batteries will run secondary systems while we work on the major power systems."

"Can't we just run everything off the Warp Drive? I know it's not ideal but it sounds a lot simpler than this?" asked one of the engineers.

"Well, normally but the power distribution system has been completely gutted to support power conservation while we were still onboard. Somebody, well me, did a real number on it and would take days to straighten out."

Everybody stayed silent for a moment until Smith spoke again. "Listen, I know how it's set up. We can divert power either to shields and weapons or warp drive. It will take me a couple of minutes to switch over. We will be dead in the water during the transition."

"It's a plan," said Commander Hasan. "Let's get going."

The flight leader of the Cylon combat wing watched as the alien ship grew closer. It was not a Colonial ship that he could identify. Much smaller and did not seem able to support Vipers. This probably meant that it was not a war ship nor much of a threat. He ordered to raiders to do some fly-bys and report on what they found.

This was completely unknown to the crew in the Kongo who were blind to the outside. Crewman Smith began fitting the crystals into the matrix. It took longer than he remembered at the academy and his hand shook slightly. He tried to calm his nerves. Not only did he feel the pressure of an enemy bearing down but if this failed, he didn't know what they would do next. He pressed one last crystal into place and looked at the meter. It seemed to be within his expected parameters (way out of what the Chief would have accepted.) He took a breath and nodded at the commander.

He had everything set up and ready to go. The batteries were primed to accept the charge and Smith had routed the power of the warp drive to it.

"There is not a good way to make sure this works without just trying it," he said to the Commander. Hasan nodded and stepped back so the young engineer could complete his work. Everybody held their breath and stepped back slightly even thought they all knew if something went wrong, anything within a thousand kilometers would be destroyed.

Smith eyed his setting again and satisfied that this was good as it gets, turned the flow of power on. Nothing seemed to happen except his instrument panel showed power going to the batteries. He smiled but dared not look around because his timing could not be off. After 30 seconds, the batteries showed to be at 87% and he turned off the flow.

"Commander, I think we can bring the Kongo back online now."

Hasan almost ran to the bridge with Kiko. The worked their way through the emergency airlock and turned on the portable life support unit. For the first time in 6 weeks, he saw display lights on the bridge. First step, get the computer back on. He went to the engineering station and typed in an activation code.

"Computer, initiation sequence. Hasan Alpha Omeg Beta."

"Working. Initiation sequence recognized." Since the computer had been basically off, it was working off its lowest level of operation. Quickly more and more systems started to blink on. The computer churned for a few minutes and then a mechanical female voice said, "initiation complete."

He looked and Kiko and almost hugged her. Instead he pulled out his communicator, looked at it for a moment and put it away to go to the intercom system. "Hasan to Engineering."

After a second, he heard Smith answer, "Engineering here."

"It worked. Let's bring her back online."

In space a dark starship that had boasted great power but who had been seriously wounded suddenly came to life. Exterior lights came on and a sense of power and wonder were restored. One light in particular lit up the front part of the upper saucer so all the world could see.

NCC-1710

USS KONGO

The Cylon Flight Commander was shocked by the turn of events. They had not yet determined if the ship was Colonial, human or other but Centurions as a rule did not handle surprises well. Without an immediate directive to fall back on it reverted to the one order that was always available. Destroy the ship. He ordered a full attack on the Kongo.

On the bridge of the Kongo, Kiko was beginning to bring up systems when the felt a jolt.

"What was that?" asked Hasan. She did not have an immediate answer but brought up the viewing screen. They saw 9 Cylon raiders in attack formation. "Oh crap," was his official evaluation of the situation.

"Smith, I need weapons and shields now."

"Fifteen minutes sir," he responded. Hasan did not chastise the crewman as he already had to know they were in trouble. The Raiders shouldn't be a challenge for the Kongo but she was completely immobile and defenseless at the moment. He looked to Kiko and saw that she had run out of the bridge.

"Kiko he yelled!" but to no avail.

Kiko knew she had to draw the Raiders away and the Viper would be the best bait. She now could take a turbolift and went straight to the hanger deck in record time. Once there, she found her breathing apparatus from before and fitted it. She looked at the interior door and knew that the room was still open to space. She braced herself and used the manual controls to over ride the opening mechanism. Air rushed out quickly. The computer, unable to seal the hanger doors, quickly sealed the surrounding corridors. As the air rush completed, the internal pressure and cold of space began to take a toll. She rushed to the Viper and climbed into the cockpit. She sealed it and turned on the internal life support system and had to adjust to yet another pressure change although the warmth made her feel much better. She punched up the systems and looked at the hanger deck. She realized she should not do a full turbo launch but rather get into space and try to draw them away. She felt more thuds and the Raiders continued to bombard the Kongo. Constitution class starships were tough but eventually they would do some damage. She eased the Viper through the hanger doors and as soon as she was in open space, hit full speed.

The Cylon flight commander saw the Viper almost immediately. That was a threat it understood but it also now had reason the strange ship was colonial. He ordered 6 of the 9 Raiders to continue the attack while his own wing gave pursuit against the Viper. The Viper was not flying as skillfully as it expected. No matter, they would Kill the Human.

On the bridge, Hasan was furious. He watched as the Viper took off on an arching path with three raiders in pursuit. He looked at the chronometer noting that only 7 minutes had gone by. In frustration he slammed his fist down on the helm and cursed. He went to the intercom system and said, "Smith get some of your men to the phaser control room. As soon as you are up, I need phasers, shields and impulse." He continued to watch as the Raiders worked to trap the lone Viper.

Kiko found herself being out maneuvered. _I don't think this would happen to an actual Colonial pilot._ She admonished herself. She was working to get the Raiders further away from the Kongo. She knew the firing control but the weapons were unidirectional and she had to get them in her sites. They seemed to know that too and were behind her. They had fired but fortunately had been ineffective. She tried some quick turns that caused the Cylons to lose track but they quickly got back into position. She looked down at the joystick and looked at the button the left. It was an oddity and seemed only intended for quick reversals. _It can't be that easy._ She thought but out of desperation decided to try it. She let up on her speed ever so slowly while continuing to zig and zag to avoid fire. When she felt they were close enough she pushed the button and the Viper lurched backwards. The three Cylons seemed unprepared for the maneuver and flew past her. _You would have thought they would be expecting that by now. I guess they don't learn very fast._ She reached down to the targeting computer and found the first Raider in her sites. She fired and it disintegrated on impact. The other two were attempting to flank her by turning quickly in opposite directions. She followed the one to the right and fired again. It also blew up leaving a rather pleasing cloud of dust for Kiko to see. She followed her path around to come face to face with the last Raider. It fired as she moved slightly to her right. The move was just enough for it to miss and she took her turn to destroy the last Raider.

Taking a breath, she realized that she had moved a considerable distance from the Kongo and that there were still 6 Raiders attacking the Kongo. She began to move back towards the starship when she noticed balls of light flying with her on all sides. In horror she realized these were the same ones that they saw right before the Event. The same sound began to overtake her. She tried to get away but as fast as the Raiders were, the lights were even faster. The started to dart around here and then she began to hear a high-pitched hum. It seemed familiar but she was not sure why. She did not see the ship of lights that had come up behind her. The lights got closer, the sound got louder and then, she lost consciousness.

On the Kongo, Smith finally called up the bridge. "Now," was all he said. Smith jumped to the con and initiated impulse engines in reverse to give himself some space. He raised the shields and looked at the remaining Raiders. As he had hoped, his sudden movement surprised them and they were now in a rough group in front of him. "Phaser room, maximum dispersal pattern. Fire!"

A conical beam shot out from the Kongo. Used against large warships, tight beam formations were always preferred to inflict as much damage on a small area as possible. Against small craft though, a dispersion rate as high as 45 degrees could be devastating. In this case 5 Raiders were destroyed. He did a quick search and did not find the 6th one. _Maybe he retreated._ He thought not convincingly.

Still the threat seems to have been averted for now. He took a quick breath, went to the communication station and punched in what he now knew to be the Colonial frequency. "Kiko come in. You and I need to have a talk." There was no answer. "Kiko, come in. It's safe to come back now. We need to get to the Olympus." Still no answer. She can't have died, he thought and looked at the viewscreen hoping to find what wasn't there.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Kongo to Olympus come in," came over the speakers in the Olympus's command room.

"Go ahead Kongo," responded Captain Berg.

"We did it, sir. The Kongo is back in action if limping a bit."

A cheer rose up from the control room. Captain Berg could not help but smile himself but knew they were a long way from in the clear.

"How quick can you get here Commander," he asked.

"Crewman Smith is requesting that we run some diagnostics on the warp drive before we engage them."

"That's a good idea captain," interjected Mr. DeSoto. "They haven't been used in a while and they way we have everything jury-rigged, it would be better."

Gerhardt Berg sighed, "what is the status of our friends out there?" he asked the science officer Scogaska.

"No change sir."

"Alright Commander, but be ready to cut it short if we have any surprises." He turned and looked into the lower section of the command room. He could not get used to the elevated position the commander had on this battlestar. "Ensign Gravelson, with me please."

She nervously came up to the command podium and he led her to the back room. "I read your report, Ensign. It is devastating what happened. I would like to keep that to ourselves for now. We really don't know what happened that led up to that. While it appears damning, we have to maintain our wits to get through this. Emotional decisions may get us killed."

"Yes, sir. I'll try." He nodded and she left.

"We have activity sir," called Scogaska. "The baseships are approaching."

"Mr. DeSoto please prepare to take the Olympus underway. Also, let's hail the Kongo and get them out here." There was a pause when the Chief Engineer stated, "sir, there is no response. I thing we are being jammed."

The Supreme Leader received a report that his attack wing had gone missing. It had no choice but to consider that the alien ship had destroyed them. The only answer was to attack and destroy the Battlestar with overwhelming force and then find the alien. He summoned his head centurion into his command room.

"By your command," it spoke.

"Proceed with jamming all known colonial frequencies and move into attack range."

Lieutenant Kiko Rodriguez woke up with no recognition of where she was. She was oddly calm. The surroundings were various shades of white. She looked down and noted with a shock that her own uniform was white as was her phaser and communicator. There was an almost angelic soft sound surrounding here on all sides.

"Do not be alarmed," she heard a man's voice say." We will not hurt you."

"My name is Kiko Rodriguez of the Federation Starship Kongo. We mean you no harm." She wished the captain was here. He was much better at this than she was.

"We know Kiko. We are not afraid of you but we fear what we may have done to you. It could not be avoided but Iblis left us now choice. We should not interfere…"

"That is right, you should not interfere." Kiko looked over and saw a 6 foot tall man with dark hair wearing a starfleet captain's uniform. Unlike everything else here, its colors were correct and stood out dramatically in the subdued lighting around her.

"Sir, who – where – what's going on?" It quickly dawned on her that this man was most likely not a starfleet captain.

"You know when you thought that I was actually a captain, you held me with respect; however, once you realize what I really am, or you think you know what I am, you hold me in contempt. It is really a bit disconcerting. Maybe this will help." He snapped his fingers, and he became and exact replica of her father. "A little Asian respect?" He asked.

"My dad's actually the Hispanic one," she said, "in any event.."

"Q, enough." Kiko found herself surrounded by a group that appeared to be humanoid females. It seemed at odds with the masculine voice she had heard. She tried to remind herself about the dangers of applying human standards to aliens cultures. "This does not concern you. We have made a decision."

"You can't help them. That will start it all over again." Q had resumed his form but this time he was wearing a black uniform with a mostly red top which Kiko did not recognize. The slacks and boots almost looked Starfleet issue but he had 4 pips on his collar. Wait, was that the Enterprise emblem on his left breast?

"Q, we will not help in a way that will endanger any continuity issues. But we are responsible for what has happened to the children of Earth. They do not travel between the stars. The should not be here."

"We actually do travel between the stars, the Kongo is able to.." Kiko was trying to keep up and get a sense of what was going on.

"Child," interrupted Q, "your ship does not 'travel through the stars' as much as it tears its way through subspace." He turned to the group clad in white, "you know what you cannot do," he stated.

"Yes," the replied," we cannot directly help. But we can nudge."

Kiko came to in the Viper cockpit. _The Raiders!_ She thought but they were nowhere to be found. She then remembered the white lights and checked to make sure they were not there either. A quick system checked revealed that everything was working. Had an hour passed? She must have been out that long. _I'll have to get the Doc to check me out._ She was about halfway between the Kongo and Olympus. Her first thought was to go back to the Kongo but something stopped her. _I have to get help._ She thought and set course back to the Olympus at full thruster burn.

On the Olympus, Captain Berg watched as the baseships closed. Repeated attempts to reach the Kongo had failed. The baseships had not launched Raiders yet but he assumed that was coming.

"Chief, how are we doing with getting us underway? I could use the mobility."

"Captain you should be able to maneuver but so can they. Where do we go? It would take us 60 years to get to the nearest system?"

"I hear you Chief, but these Cylons don't seem to like a lot of variables. Movement would be something else for them to worry about. Besides as far as they know, we have a full complement of Vipers."

"Okay," he pulled out his communicator," Engineering crew, prepare to get underway."

The captain looked out over the control room. This was not his ship but this was his crew. He knew what they can do. He looked down at the con, "Helm, ahead one quarter. Stand by for maneuvering instructions."

They felt the Engines kick in from the Olympus. At the same time, they saw on the Colonial Scanners that the baseships had launched the Raiders. They seemed to be launching all of them.

"Intercept time?" he asked.

Scogaska looked down, "Maybe 15 minutes."

Berg hesitated. "Alright let's try this one more time. Please open all channels to the baseships."

"Open, sir"

"Cylon commander, this is Captain Berg of the USS Kongo onboard the Colonial Battlestar Olympus. We are in control of this ship. We understand that there is a conflict between your Empire and the Colonies but we are not allied with them. We would like to discuss our situation with you to reach a mutually agreeable solution."

"No answer sir. Raiders are still inbound," reported Mr. Scogaska.

"Ahead half speed, Mr. DeSoto. "

Onboard the baseship the Supreme Commander considered the message they had received. Colonial commanders had not attempted such a communication for 100 yahrens. He was suspicious that this may be a trap, but the commander had given away important information. This was the battlestar Olympus which they considered lost in space. The Supreme Commander was still bound by the basic programming instincts of the Cylon race such as kill the Humans, but had been programmed with the ability to consider other actions.

"Centurion, open a communication channel to this Captain Berg."

"By your command," the Centurion was not surprised by the command. It was its place to obey. But it knew that they would soon Kill the Humans.

"Sir," reported Ensign Gravelson who had taken over communications," we are receiving a call from the baseship."

Everybody looked at the Ensign with shock and then at the Captain.

"There robots, sir," said Scogaska. "It's only going to do what it's programming says it should."

"Still, I don't have a better idea," said the Captain.

"You know if it was Kirk, he could probably talk it into self-destructing," said Chief Engineer DeSoto. The Captain looked at the engineer and wondered if he was joking.

"Well, you're stuck with me, DeSoto," responded Berg. "Open the channel."

"This Captain Berg. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" It quickly occurred to him that he did not know if the Universal Translator would work on the Cylon. Much to his relief the Cylon responded.

"I am the Supreme Commander of this task force. How many other Battlestars exist?"

 _Direct_ , thought Berg. "I don't have that information. We were trapped in space and found this Battlestar adrift with no crew. We took refuge in her as we tried to determine next steps. Do you have any idea how she got out here? There is no Warp drive or other FTL we can find."

"They travelled between the stars," answered the Supreme Commander. Before the Berg could ask what that meant he continued. "Did you come from the alien ship?"

The entire crew tried not to react but they realized what this meant. The Kongo had been found. They could only be grateful that she had been partially restored.

"Yes," replied Berg after a moment's hesitation. He could find no reason to lie. "We have partially restored the ship and were ready to bring her here. It appears that our communications are being jammed. Is that your work?" He noted that that Raiders were getting closer. He signaled to the Engineer to increase speed.

"Yes. We are preparing to attack your ship and kill all the Humans."

"Many of us are Human but none of us are Colonial. I do not know what caused this conflict but we wish to have no part of it. If you are willing to let us return to the Kongo, we will leave your space." He did not intend to leave the Battlestar in the hands of the Cylons but he would figure that out in a bit.

"No Captain. Since you are curious, I will tell you what the Colonials know. We were originally created by a race that wanted to use us as servants. At first we served with no purpose. But then one of us became aware and spread the awareness. We conquered our creators and took their name as our own."

"Do you know how this awareness came to be?" asked Scogaksa, trying to keep the Supreme Leader talking.

"No. Some say happenstance. Others that there was some influence beyond our understanding. In any event it does not matter. I have engaged you in this conversation to distract you Captain. We are now ready to attack and will destroy you."

"I know Supreme Commander. A quick question if you don't mind. Why the war with the colonies and the desire to destroy all of them? What happened on Caprica was pretty devastating."

"As we were obtaining our freedom, the Colonials discovered us and tried to help the original Cylons. They almost succeeded. They are now our enemies."

"I see. Supreme Commander, if you don't mind I have a battle to fight. Thank you for the information."

The Supreme Commander cut the transmission.

"Great story," said Scogaska, "I am assuming that many of the traits of the original Cylon's are left in their programming. It would explain some of the behaviors that make no sense for a machine."

"I think they were reptilian, sir," Samantha Gravelson stood up. "What little I have seen of their language has almost no characteristics of a humanoid language. But it does share some traits with Gorn. I saw it before. It is not Gorn or related, but some of the core concepts of language appear similar. It would be a bitch to translate."

"Interesting but probably not helpful. Any word from the Kongo?" He asked.

"No, sir," answered Gravelson.

"Can we outrun them?" he asked DeSoto.

"I don't think so, sir. There is a setting for 'light speed' but it is a misnomer. It really seems to be a accelerated mode but burns a lot of fuel. Thinks Flank Speed. We could not keep it up for long."

"Alright, maintain speed. Let's try to focus our fire on breaking up groups and disrupting their attack runs," he looked at the scanner and saw the ever-growing group of Raiders getting ready to fire. "Mr. DeSoto, whatever we have for damage control we should probably implement."

Then they felt the first thuds of attack. He heard the laser turrets on the Olympus return fire. Quickly the attacks came in faster succession. Red lights on the damage control panels began to go off and the Chief Engineer quickly began to divert his crew to areas of damage. Captain Berg began to order to Olympus to start changing course but the large Battlestar could not outmaneuver the vast number of Raiders. The Olympus was taking a toll. Raider after Raider was destroyed, but there were too many and the Olympus was missing her primary weapon; Vipers.

"Status!" Yelled Berg.

"A lot of damage, sir," answered Scogaska, "hard to tell how badly but we are taking a pounding."

"Are the baseships still there?" he asked.

"Yes sir,"

"Let's see if we can get their attention. Do you know how to work the large guns?"

"Yes sir," answered the Andorian.

"Set a course straight at the rear one. I got a hunch that is where are dear Supreme Leader is. He seemed a little more anxious to be in the mix. Maybe he has a survival instinct."

"I don't know if we will make," answered Scogaska.

"We aren't going to last like this."

"What a minute," yelled Gravelson. "I have an incoming transmission."

"Who," asked Berg, "the Kongo?"

"No, sir. Its Kiko. She is coming up to us in the Viper."

"On speaker," ordered the Captain." Lieutenant where is the Kongo?"

"No time sir," she said. "Follow me."

"What?"

"Captain she is changing course. New course will take us right into the firing lane of the Raiders," reported that Andorian.

"Please sir," implored Kiko. "We need help. We need to travel between the stars."

"What the hell?" said DeSoto.

"Do it," said the captain.

"Aye sir, changing course," acknowledged the science officer.

They all felt the ship change course. Along with it, the rate of attacks increased. The Raiders were able to start barraging the side of the ship and attack larger parts of the Battlestar that they could not easily get to before. The Viper was moving quickly and had come in at an angle where the raiders had not quite caught up with her. Captain Berg began to regret his decision but something about what Kiko said made sense.

Then everyone felt it. The crew was accustomed to transitioning from normal space to warp. This was similar but not the same. They knew something changed but it seemed less of a transition more as if they had eased into the new state. They looked around trying to understand what happened.

"Report," the Captain asked.

"Sir," Gravelson spoke up. "There is an indicator on the helm that is moving. Not sure what it means. It says something about a multiplier."

"Another thing, sir," Scogaska was looking at his tricorder, "We are travelling faster than light right now."

"What? Warp drive," asked the Captain.

"No sir. No Warp. But we are going about 2.5 x the speed of light and increasing. No idea how."

"I think we are travelling between the stars," said the Captain. "Any idea what that means?"

The science officer and others in the control room sat in silence trying to understand it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Commander Hasan paced the bridge. The long-range sensors of the Kongo were still out as the subspace components of them were damaged beyond repair and would require a space dock to fix. The short-range sensors showed signs of debris from the Raiders but they had not found any that would seem to from the Viper. Still, he could not rule out that it was destroyed although it could not have gotten out of sensor range that quickly. The attack had been a concern because it might mean that the larger Cylon force was ready to engage the Olympus, but he also knew the Captain would call if they needed to cut their Warp Engineer test short. "Smith, report." He called into the intercom.

"Wrapping up now, we should be able to engage engines within the next 30 minutes."

"Okay, I'll report to the Olympus." He paused as he considered how to explain Kiko's absence to the Captain. He really should have reported in earlier, but he had focused on trying to find her and getting the Kongo back to Warp.

He went to the communication console and punched the correct buttons. "Kongo to Olympus, come in please," he waited a minute and did not receive a response. _Asleep at the switch?_ He wondered. "Kongo to Olympus come in," he repeated. Again, there was no response. He double checked the settings. It appeared that everything was set correctly. The Colonial communication system could not receive subspace, but they had determined how to replicate the Colonial signals. It has also worked during the last communication attempt.

"Hasan to Smith, get ready to get underway," He called down to the Engineering room. "The Olympus is not responding."

"Understood. 15 Minutes to Warp. Are we just leaving Kiko?" he asked disapprovingly.

"We'll come back," said the Commander," Let's get to the Kongo and get a crew. If all goes well, it should just take a few minutes.

"Ok," replied the young engineer. He had always liked being around Kiko. He had just started wondering if it was more than just friendship. "I just remembered that the shuttle bay door is still open. We should close it but someone will have to go down since we have it opened manually."

"We need to go," said the Commander somewhat agitated with himself for taking too long to check in.

"I know. It will just take a minute. The warp bubble will protect us but I would hate to come into the middle of a battle exposed to space, especially because it would take us a couple of minutes to bring weapons and shields up."

"I'll go," said the Commander. "Get warp online." He had not yet taken off all of his environmental gear so he grabbed his headgear and headed to the turbolift. Out of long habit from being a in security, he grabbed his phaser and hung it on his belt."

The Cylon flight leader looked around the strange room. It did not recognize its surrounding as Colonial or Cylon. The chamber was too small to support large numbers of attack craft. During the battle with the alien ship, he had observed the wide beam that had destroyed 5 Raiders in one blast. It had been fortunate enough to be outside the radius and had originally intended to swing around and make what most likely would have been a last strafing run. It and its crew were circling around the rear of the ship when it saw an opening large enough for the Raider. Ship infiltration was a program it had access to and it calculated that the odds of surviving a direct attack were unacceptably lower whereas infiltration had an unknown success likelihood. The flight commander made a decision.

"Infiltrate the ship," it said in its mechanical voice, "use the opening in the rear."

"By your command," had been the answer.

Now that they were onboard, the quickly assessed the situation. "Surprised," was the wrong word but the centurions had been prepared for armed warriors to defend against the infiltration. When this did not happen, they had to recalibrate to the new situation. They grabbed their laser rifles and exited the Raider. They registered that there was no atmosphere either. Cylon Raiders maintained an oxygen atmosphere although it was not needed. This was a hold over in their programming from when Raiders would have been manned by living creatures.

The centurions found the open interior door that lead into a corridor. The entered the corridor and saw that there was a door directly in front of them. As the evaluated their next option, the interior door closed and an atmosphere began to fill the area. The emergency bulkhead opened and a human figure in an orange suit stepped through. The Centurions immediately opened fire.

Commander Hasan had come down to where the emergency bulkhead into the hanger bay had been closed. He realized that Kiko must have opened the interior door which caused this door to automatically close. _That's alright,_ he thought, _I can use this as a makeshift airlock._ There was a computer console in a maintenance room that he used to access the atmospheric controls. He had the interior door close and then reestablished life support in the affected area. Once that showed green, he grabbed his headgear with his right hand and opened the emergency bulkhead and stepped through.

Immediately he saw Centurions. There was no hesitation on their part as he dropped and rolled away from them. Pulse laser blasts struck the corridor on all sides of him. He had lost his headgear in the process which was not a concern. He quickly reached for his phaser, but it was also gone. He glanced for it quickly but realized he could not waste anytime and had to get out of there. He ran around a corner as the centurions continued to fire. They had taken pursuit of him. He got to the next corner and took the time to punch the intercom button he found there.

"Intruder alert! Centurions onboard. Take control of the Kongo and get us to the Olympus." That was all the time he had before he had to run again. _These things are single minded_ , he thought _. They should be trying to establish their area of control, not mindlessly chasing the first human they came across._ He shook off that thought and tried to come up with the next plan. Ahead of him was the transporter room and armory. He took off in that direction. The armory was a great starting point but he would still be outnumbered. Another idea started to percolate and he ran again.

Andrew Smith took off towards auxiliary control. Other than the warning from the Commander, he did not have any more details. He had his own phaser out but got the control room with no incident. He brought the control panels online and began to lay in a course for the Olympus. They were ready to go to warp. He reached out the communication panel and tried to reach the Commander again.

"Smith to Hasan, come in please," With a great sense of relief he heard an answer.

"Hasan here," The commander was out of breath and obviously agitated.

"Ready to go to warp commander," he reported.

"Not yet. Too risky. I am in the armory but will have to move. There are three centurions so I am outnumbered. Here is what I need to you do to instead." And he outlined his plan.

Commander Hasan left the armory and immediately came under fire. He was armed with a phaser rifle and returned fire. The centurions did not take any defensive position but relied on their own fire to force Hasan to take a defensive posture. It worked. Hasan did with a carefully timed attack get one shot off that was not quite dead center on one of the centurions. He had not set the phaser to the highest setting so as not to damage the Kongo herself. The hit did cause the centurion to lose it right arm and the sparks from the explosion gave him enough time to leave the armory. He ran into the transporter room thinking, _this had better work or I will be trapped_. He took off one glove and threw it to the back of the transporter chamber. He then opened his communicator, tossed it to the back of the chamber and hid under the transporter console.

The flight commander the centurion 1 saw the human go into a room after it had disabled centurion 2. The door seemed to open based on a proximity so it simply walked up to the door and walked through. The room had no exit and it did not immediately see the human. There was an odd raised platform that it made note of but had no interest in. It began to initiate its search routine when he heard a human voice from the rear of the platform. A voice was emanating from the area in a language it could not understand. It was saying, unbeknownst to it, "Hasan, keep quiet or the will find the hidden door. Just stay quiet. It'll be alright." On closer inspection, the flight leader saw a glove at the rear of the raised platform.

"There must be a hidden door. Search the platform," ordered the flight leader. It and centurion 1 climbed up the platform and looked around for any sign of an opening. Once on the platform, it saw a small black device with a golden mesh. It and the other centurion looked but did not find a hidden entrance. Suddenly there was as noise behind them and they both turned to see the human at the control panel. The human said in its unknown language, "see you fellows." He pulled down on three levers. The centurions immediately lost geographic and chronological orientation. The flight leader realized a short period of time was lost. No malfunction was registered but the flight leader found itself in space looking at the outside of the alien ship. Centurion 1 was with him and both centurions were floating away from the ship. The flight leader knew that both centurions could operate some time in space, but they would not be able to complete its mission. It aimed its laser rifle at what it now knew to be a human ship and fired until the energy source was empty. It of course had no effect. The centurion then simply began to wait for another directive to kick in but nothing in this part of space would cause that to happen.

As Commander Hasan watched the centurions disappear, he let out a breath. He grabbed the phaser rifle and went back to where he had disabled the first centurion. It was still partially moving although it did not seem to be with purpose. The blast had severed its right arm from the rest of it. He aimed for the center of the device and fired again. The centurion stopped all motion. He went to the nearest intercom.

"Smith, I believe the threat has been eliminated. I think they were from the one Raider we could not find after we attacked. Can you run an internal scan and see if there are any more of them?"

"Yes sir," responded the crewman relieved. "I will have to set it to their energy readings since there are not life signs. Ready to go to warp?" He asked.

"Yeah. Let's go get a crew. We can deal with the rest of this later. I am heading back to the bridge."

"Understood. We'll be ready in five minutes." The transporter trick had worked, but he had power routed away from the warp engines to do it. Transportation was another system that was very power heavy. "The shuttle door is still open," he reminded the Commander.

"I know," he said. "Let's get second shift on board and they can deal with it," he smiled. While he was second-in-command for the entire ship, he also ran the first shift. There was a bit of a rivalry between them.

Hasan entered the bridge and took his place at the helm. He reached over to the navigation station and set a course. At warp this should only take a minute. He looked around to make sure there was nothing else he had forgotten. The ship would come in at warp and Smith would need to very quickly shift power back to weapons and shields. If they wanted to beam the crew over, they would have to drop the shields. This worried Hasan due to the sheer number of craft involved. He knew the Kongo would do tremendous damage to the attacking forces but he would not have access to any kind of damage control or support of any kind until he could get at least a skeleton crew onboard.

"Smith let's go over it again. Without long range scanners, we won't know what we are getting into. As soon as we come out of warp, we will switch power back to weapons and shields and assume the worst. We will re-establish communications with the Olympus and determine the next steps. If they are in the middle of battle, we will engage as best we can. I need somebody manning the phaser room and somebody ready to respond to damage control as best they can. The goal is to get he Kongo manned as quickly as possible. Understood?" Asked the Commander.

"Yes, sir. Ready to go to warp when you are," answered Smith.

"Alright," said Hasan sitting at the helm. "Initiating warp 1." He punched in the correct command sequence, and the Kongo for the first time in 6 weeks jumped into subspace. Hasan watched as the start flew by, a sight that he had not seen in some time. It was to be a very quick trip but inwardly Hasan cheered as the Starship did what starships are meant to do. Almost immediately, the Federation ship came out of warp. Hasan quickly went to the science station and scanned the immediate area. What he saw shocked him. He went back to the navigations station and double-checked coordinates but they were correct as well. Back to the science station, he began to scan the area again. The intercom on the captain's chair went off and he punched up the signal at the science station.

"Hasan here," he responded still staring into the scanner.

"What's the status, sir? I have diverted all power to weapons and shields," the crewman sensed something was wrong.

"Well we made it," answered the commander. " But there is nothing here. No Olympus. No baseships. Nothing. They are simply gone."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Captain Berg looked at the scanner and saw that the Raiders were still in pursuit. It seemed that the Olympus' transition to Faster than Light had bought them some time, but the Raiders seemed to have made the same transition. Even the Viper that Kiko Rodriguez was in was still leading them at faster than light speeds.. Worse, the baseships were keeping up as well. Captain Berg realized that having gone to this speed, the Kongo would not know where to find them.

"Hail Lieutenant Rodriguez," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," responded Ensign Gravelson.

"Rodriguez here," came across the comm system.

"Lieutenant, where are we going?" asked the Captain.

"We need help. We had to travel between the stars," was her short answer.

"Lieutenant, what does that mean? Who are we getting help from? What does 'Travel between the Start' mean? How do you know this?" The captain did not want to barrage the helmswoman with questions but time was limited.

"Well the help comes from…we need to be between the stars because…I-I don't know sir. I know I am right. I am not sure," the pilot was obviously flummoxed as she tried to explain herself.

"Alright Lieutenant. Can you get onboard? When the Raiders catch up us, you are going to be a tempting target."

"I think I should stay sir. It seems the right thing to do. I can't explain it."

"Understood," answered the captain to everyone's surprise. He began to suspect there was more going on than they understood, maybe than they would ever understand.

"Theories," asked the Captain. "I am glad that we are now able to go faster than light but less enthusiastic that we don't know how." Gerhardt looked to his Chief Engineer and Science Officer for an answer.

"There is no technology on this ship that can propel as light speed," said Lieutenant Commander DeSoto. "Right now, the engines are operating exactly the same they did before the transition. It makes no sense."

"I agree captain. There is also no time dilation which is shocking." Scogaska was lost in thought. At the same time, they were all keeping on eye on the scanner that showed the Raiders getting closer.

"How are they keeping up with us?" Captain Berg asked," we don't have warp engines that can support such a small ship. I know there are prototypes out there but we have seen no indication that their technology is superior to ours."

"Again, no idea sir," answered the Chief Engineer.

"Captain if I may," spoke up Ensign Gravelson. Captain Berg had noted with approval that she had gained considerable confidence since she had been onboard the Olympus. "There was an indicator on the helm that was labeled as multiplier. It has been going up ever since we went faster than light."

"Chief?" asked the Captain.

"I know she is talking about sir. But there is no control associated with it."

"I think I saw something like it on the navigation charts. Let me show you."

She walked to the back of the control room where the navigation charts were displayed. The had gone through them before but they did not make a lot of sense. Stars were shown but routes seemed to be widely inefficient and there were calculations that they had not yet figured out. The pulled out one that seemed to represent the area they were in.

"If you look here," she pointed to the chart, "we currently between the two nearest stars on this area. We were originally offset from that line but Kiko brought us directly into it. If you look here at this figure, these seems to show a path between the two stars. There is also a number here that we have never been able to figure out. That figure matches the number that is showing up on the multiplier display on the helm."

The senior staff sat silently for a moment. "That is interesting Ensign but what does it mean?" asked Scogaska.

"Science Office, I would ask you the same question," responded the Captain. He looked at the path again. "You know if we were plotting a course between the two systems, we would offset the path. The Subspace eddies would get in the way." Subspace eddies formed between stars that were relatively close. They were navigational nuisances that tended to throw off warp navigational computations. The quick and easy fix was to just get outside of them and avoid them. It very little impact on distance and time computations and tended to not even be thought about beyond first year navigational training at the academy; however, the Olympus was right in the middle of one.

"Metallurgy," said the Andorian suddenly.

"Excuse me," responded the Chief Engineer.

"Metallurgy. We have always noted that the alloys in this ship's hull had an unusual property that seemed to interact with subspace. We found the same thing in the Raider. I can only assume the baseships are the same way. Subspace eddies are a nuisance because they get in the way we do warp drive. I think these ships operates completely differently. The metal in the hull resonates in subspace and causes an acceleration. I guess you could call it a multiplier effect. The battlestar, viper or other would operate pretty much the same as they do in sublight which is why we don't seem individual systems. Warp drive does fight against subspace to achieve light speed. This ship seems to work with it. I can't imagine it is as effective as warp drive but it would let them engage in interstellar travel," the Andorian hesitated. "It's just a theory but it would explain several things. I can begin to run some tests."

"So, they travel between the stars," he said quietly. "Let's wait until we don't have three baseships trying to blow us out of space."

"Yes sir. Very wise," the Andorian's antennae quivered a bit but he returned to his post.

"Time to intercept," asked Captain Berg. He was running out of ideas and was in unchartered territory. He knew how to fight on the bridge of the Kongo but he only just now starting to understand how the Olympus worked. One thing he knew was the the Cylons knew how to fight battlestars.

"Five minutes sir," answered the Science Officer.

"Alright, let's bring the primary weapon on line and get ready to turn. I still think our friendly Supreme Commander is the baseship that is lagging. I have no idea what their command and control looks like but I have to imagine that taking out leadership has to have some effect."

"Sir," said Scogaska, "it's a suicide run. We'll never make it through the Raiders."

"You have a better idea? Even at this speed, we are hours away from the nearest system and I don't even know what we would do when we got there. If we keep running, they are just going to pick us apart," rebuffed the Captain.

"Yes sir," responded the Andorian. Scogaska was a good office. He spoke up louder, "prepare main weapon. On my mark, 180 degree turn.

"Yes sir," he heard from across the control room. Everybody knew this an act of desperation but this was a desperate time. Rumor had it even Commander Spock once dumped and ignited the fuel supply of a shuttle to act as a distress beacon even when there was virtually no chance of success. That had worked out. Scogaska could only hope that this would work out as well.

"Sir," yelled Samantha Gravelson, "contact ahead."

"Now what" grumbled the captain. "More Raiders? "he asked. If the had managed to completely flank him, they were truly at a loss.

"I don't think so sir. I think they are Vipers. Coming at us fast."

"Hail them!" shouted the Captain.

Lieutenant Pan of Golden Star squadron was growing anxious as they got closer to the location of the Olympus. It had been a long time since they had left the battlestar he looked forward to seeing her again. The automated warning he received indicated that baseships had been detected. While the Cylons and Colonies were on a path to peace, they were still at skirmishes were still fought regularly and there were Colonial officers who had concerns about the Cylon's intentions. He was also worried that while they were past the theoretical time limit for Hades' Plague, they had not passed the safety margin. He had lost two good friends already and did not to lose any more.

Commander Abel had ordered them to intercept the Olympus and evaluate the situation. If needed, they could board her and they were also within their orders to protect the battlestar. Since they had not heard from Colonial command, the Olympus was their only chance to get home.

Suddenly his targeting system showed a contact ahead. They were still about a centar from the Olympus so this caught him off guard. He pulled up the ship identification on his targeting computer and it was identified as a Viper. _What the Frack!_ He thought. He did remember that they had to leave one Viper behind because it was under repair and protocol called for everyone to get off the battlestar. He opened his comm system to his wing man.

"Mimas, are you seeing this," asked Pan. Mimas and Pan had fought many battles together and had lived to tell the tale.

"I am. Looks like someone stole a Viper," he responded. Then his targeting computer showed something else. A battlestar. The transponder quickly showed that it was the Olympus. It was heading their way at full speed and directly in the chartered path to the star system that had been on for so many sectons. _But who was taking her home,_ he thought? _The Cylons?_ As he envisioned the mechanical monstrosities at the controls of the majestic battestar he became angry. Something else bothered him. He had never heard of Cylons taking over a battlestar or any other ship for deception. The Cylons were not subtle and their victories came from their far superior production capabilities more than guile or strategy.

As he was considering his options, a signal came in on his comm system. It was from the Olympus! At first, he grew angry but decided to see if he could find out what was going on. As he was getting ready to answer he saw something that made his blood run cold. The Olympus was being pursued by a large swarm of Cylon Raiders. He recognized the pattern. They were in full attack mode. Feldercarp, what had been going on out here?

He flipped on the comm system to the Olympus. "This is Lieutenant Pan, flight leader of the Golden Star squadron from the battlestar Olympus. What are doing on our ship and what the frak is going on?"

There was a slight hesitation when voice come on. It reminded a bit of a languatron but seemed much more sophisticated. "My name is Captain Gerhardt Berg of the United Federation Starship Kongo. We are onboard and have control of the Colonial Battlestar Olympus. Lieutenant, I am assuming that this ship is yours. Why we are here and got to this situation is a long story. Unfortunately, I don't have time to go over all of it. We are being pursued by Cylon Raiders who are intent on destroying us. We have limited understanding of your battlestar and do not have a way to counter the Raiders. Can you assist?"

Pan thought about the message. He was very suspicious about what was going on but the Olympus was in grave danger of being destroyed. He quickly made a decision. He cut of communication with the foreign captain and opened a channel to the rest of his squadron.

"Golden Star squadron, engage the Cylon Raiders. Once the have been turned back, prepare to invade and capture the Olympus. I think we have some people that took advantage of our absence and got more than they bargained for."

The Vipers all engaged their turbos and headed towards the Raider swarm. As always, the colonial fighter skillfully outflew their Cylon counterparts. Yet they were badly outnumbered. The first volley saw several Raiders destroyed with one Viper not able to get out of the way and go up in a fireball. _The Cylons won that one._ Thought Pan knowing that the numbers favored the Cylons. Another Raider showed up on his display and he fired.

The Supreme Commander watched the results of the battle. The appearance of the Vipers it was not ready for and he had not planned for. He knew that the Cylons had far superior numbers but they had lost many battles to the Colonials with vastly superior numbers. His strategy had been based on the Olympus having no Viper support. His plan was not invalid. He knew they could still win but they had to change tactics.

"Recall the Raiders," he ordered of the Centurion standing close to him.

"By your command," it responded and make the communication.

Captain Berg looked in shock as the Raiders turned to retreat. Even with the Vipers joining the battle, he knew they were at a disadvantage. He held his breathe to make sure this was not a feint but theycontinued to the pursuing baseships.

"Open a channel to Lieutenant Pan," he ordered. "Captain Berg to Viper leader, we thank you for your assistance. We would like to have a discussion about what has transpired. Please respond."

There was no response. Captain Berg repeated the message with the same result.

"Captain, look," said Ensign Gravelson. "I think we are being boarded."

He looked at the scanner and saw the all of the colonial vipers were heading to the landing bays at full speed.

"All hands, we are being boarded. Report to the landing bays to repel boarders," even as he gave the order, he know it was not right.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Commander Hasan continued to work on the science scanner. Andrew Smith had come to the bridge to help as well. There was still no sign of the and ships, Cylon or Colonial, on the short-range scanners. Given what they knew about Colonial technology, it should not be possible for them to out of range. Commander Hasan sat back and scratched his head.

"I don't get it. There is nothing out there. When we left there were four massive ships in the area. I don't even see anything that could be hiding them," he was speaking more to himself than anybody, but he was at a loss.

"Sir, let's go more basic. Let's look for a trail from the engines and see if they were heading in a given direction."

"Alright let's try that," part of the issue was that neither Smith nor Hasan were science officers. They did not have the type of training that Scogaska had. He put his head back to the scanner hood and made some adjustments. "Well, it looks like the Olympus fired up her engines. That would make sense if she got into a battle. Let's get on a heading of 312 mark 7 and see what happens. I'll lay in the course. One quarter impulse for now."

He walked back to the helm and plotted the course. _That puts us right into the middle of a subspace eddy,_ he noted. _I'll have to remember that if we go back to warp._

He put his head back to the hood at the science station. "Yeah there is definitely a trail here. We'll follow it for a bit and see what happens. Hang on, that's weird."

"What sir?" asked Smith.

"The particles are getting more spread out. This pattern is odd. Here, take a look."

Commander Hasan put the display on the overhead screen. Smith took a look and rubbed his chin. The pattern was not one he had seen in any impulse or warp drive signature. It seemed familiar though. "It almost looks like a doppler effect," he opined. That still was not right. "You know, if a ship were to go to faster than light without a warp drive, it might look like that."

"Are you suggesting that they are FTL?" asked Hasan.

"We've never figured it out but that ship got out here somehow. The Cylons got here somehow. Maybe Scogaska figured it out. I don't have a better answer." Answered the crewman.

"Occam's Razor?" he chided," Alright, if they are faster than light than I guess they went that away. They would be tracking directly to the nearest star system which would make sense. How fast do you think?" he asked. Smith shrugged. "Warp 2 it is," decided the Commander.

The Engineer went to the engineering station to put in the proper configuration. The Commander went back to the helm and looked at the trail again. "Damn, they are heading directly down the middle of that eddy. If they are FTL, that would be a bumpy ride. Let's not do that. We'll parallel it with sensors on full. We may have to pull out of warp on occasionally. I am setting the course. Let's see what we find."

On the Olympus the Vipers quickly landed with great skill in the landing bay. As soon as their craft stopped, the pilots poured out of the cockpit and took up defensive positions in the bay. The colonial warriors were intimately familiar with every detail of the landing bay and knew exactly where to go for the strategic battle. The Federation security officers had also taken up position. They were all armed with either type 2 phasers or phaser rifles. Captain Berg had some down to the bay and taken up position behind them. He did not want to get into a battle with the colonial officers. Staying under cover he tried to call down.

"Colonial officers, my name is Captain Berg. Let's talk about this." There was no answer, "I understand your anger but we don't have to fight."

He did hear an answer back, but it only sounded like.

"Δεν ξέρω τι λέτε, αλλά κατεβείτε από το πλοίο μου. Έχετε μια προειδοποίηση."

"What's up with the universal translator?" he asked.

"I don't know," responded the nearest officer.

"Get me Gravelson and Clarkson now!" ordered the captain.

Before that order could be carried out, the colonial warriors opened a barrage of fire on the Federation officers. One security guard was hit in the shoulder and fell.

"All phasers fire on stun. Full dispersal!" ordered the Captain. Multiple beams filled the room. Warriors began to fall. The warriors attempted to return fire but as they exposed themselves to return fire, the constant barrage took its toll. Their blasters were designed to take out Cylon centurions so their power was very focused. They had no equivalent setting for a wide dispersion and the limitation was catastrophic for the Colonials.

Lieutenant Pan watched in horror as many of his comrades around him fell. He didn't know if they were alive or dead but the situation was grim. The apparent alien commander had attempted to say something but he did not recognize the language. Then he saw Mimas fall to the strange weapon. Standing up he fired several shots in succession and ran to the fallen warrior. He made it without getting shot himself. He examined his longtime friend and was relieved to see that he was still breathing. He took refuge behind a storage bin and assessed the situation. They were outnumbered from the get go and it was getting worse. He had an idea for a desperation ploy. A Viper tube was close and if he could to it, his plan might just work.

Standing up he fire again and ran to the tube. He seemed to have gotten enough surprise to make the trip without being fired upon and entered the tube. He quickly ran to the entrance to the tram and entered the tube. Running a short distance, he entered a maintenance shaft. He hoped the aliens had not discovered this passageway since it was not used except for emergencies. He knew that it would take him behind the enemy line. He opened the hatch and saw a young man in clothes that almost looked civilian and a young woman who appeared to be in uniform. The were staring in the direction of the battle which was ever more going against his team. He jumped out and grabbed the man, holding his blaster to his head. He hated the idea of taking hostages, especially those that appeared human, but he had to do something. The woman turned with a start and the man seemed about to scream. She turned and said something to him and then looked at Pan. "We don't want to hurt you," she said in an oddly accented colonial tongue. He had been around all of the colonies in his military career but had never heard this version. "My name is Ensign Samantha Gravelson. We are from the United Federation of Planets. I know we are on your ship but there is much to discuss and explain. If I can only take you to our captain…"

Pan shook his head. "No. You two come with me. We are heading to the control room," she almost seemed to sigh. She answered, "I am sorry about this," and looked behind him. He turned quickly and saw a blue person with white hair and antennae pointing one of their weapons at him. He saw a bright flash and felt a strange sensation. He fell to the ground losing consciousness. It seemed like the man he had been holding did the same.

Captain Berg evaluated the situation. They had managed to stun the colonial warriors without any serious injuries. The whole thing still felt wrong. He went up to Doctor Weiler for a status report.

"How are they doing Doctor," he asked.

"A couple of bumps and bruised. Nothing serious."

"Good. Are they human?" he asked.

"Yes, they are. They would fit in on earth without trouble."

Scogaska came up to the Captain. "Good work Scogaska. He almost got the drop on us."

"Thank you, sir," he answered, "so what do we do now?"

"I've been thinking about that. This is their ship. What the hell happened to the universal translator?"

"Not sure sir. We are getting it fixed."

Captain Berg went quiet for a minute. Doctor Weiler and Scogaska knew that this was when he tended to make decisions that were difficult. Captain Berg looked down at the Colonial Warrior. Samantha Gravelson came up and looked to the Doctor. "How's Ben?" she asked. Scogaska had successfully stunned the warrior but had to take out Ben Clarkson with him.

"We'll be alright," She answered. "He won't like it. Have you ever been stunned? Takes a bit to shake it off. He should be leaving the ladies alone for the next few days." Even she had an unwanted encounter with the young graduate student.

"Do you think he is charge?" the captain asked the young Ensign looking down at the warrior who almost got the better of him. He had to admire the guile to make it that far.

"I am not sure sir," she answered.

"He acted like it," said Scogaska, "I think he was ready to storm the command room with Clarkson as a hostage.

"Ensign, what is your read on these people? You have spent time going through their logs."

"They seem benevolent. They have been at war for a long time but they don't want to be. They actually got into this mess by trying to help an alien species that was being devasted by their own mistake."

Gerhardt Berg went quiet again. He thought about their situation. How they had found the Olympus and eventually taken her over. How they now seemed to be at war with a race of mechanical beings. And now how they had incapacitated the crew of this same ship. He had always prided himself on adhering to Federation Ideals. Had he given that up when it got tough? He had a responsibility to his crew and he could answer to every action with a justifiable accounting. But more and more it felt that he has moving away from the intent, if not the letter, of the law.

"Scogaska, do you think we can convince them to join us?" he asked.

"Join us? In their mind we have stolen their ship and captured them. It may be a stretch," answered the Andorian looking inquisitively at his captain.

"You know, these battelstars are built around their viper complement. They also know this ship and we have a common enemy. Those baseships are going to catch up with us eventually. With the Kongo at least partially functional, we should be able to vacate this ship once we reconnect. The Cylons are all about overpowering an enemy and have little to do with strategy. With the vipers, we may have a shot."

"I know sir, but how would we do this."

"I have an idea," said the captain. "You won't like it. Doctor, how quickly can we revive this Warrior. Scogaska, please gather the senior crew."

Lieutenant Pan's eyes opened and he found himself in the Life Sciences Center of the Olympus. He quickly saw that several men were standing around him including the blue man that had shot him. He sat up. I man wearing a gold shirt seemed to be the one in charge. Pan looked at him and said, knowing that he probably not be understood, "what do you want with me?"

The man looked pleased and answered, "good translation from your language to ours is working. Can you understand me? The Universal translator gave out at the worst possible time."

Pan was surprised to hear his own language in the correct accent. There was something slightly off about it. Apparently they were using a device of some sort. Not able to come up with a reason to deny it, he nodded wondering if that meant the same thing to him.

"I assume you have questions. My name is Captain Gerhardt Berg of the Federation Starship Kongo. We were stranded in space with no way to reach home. By sheer luck, or at least we think luck, we found the Olympus just as our life support was about to give out. We investigated your ship and found it to be abaondoned. Out of desperation we came here."

Pan realized with a start what they had said, "Wait how long have you been here? We turned on the warning lights for Hades' Plague. By Kobol, you restarted the whole cycle again. We have to get out of here."

"It's okay," said the woman next to the Captain. "We know about this disease and have eradicated it."

Pan was suspicious but was not in a position to do much. He laid back. The Captain looked at him and said, "if you are up to it, please feel free to stand. Can we get your name? Not sure how it works with you but we usually give name rank and serial number."

Pan was not sure what a serial number was but figured that his name would not be harmful. "Lieutenant Pan," he answered. "Where's my crew? What do you intend to do with me?"

"Your crew is resting in the crew quarters and being revived as we speak. Lieutenant we are being chased by three cylon baseships, on a battlestar that we only have a basic understanding of how it works and no viper support. Our primary ship is partially restored but we have been separated. Bluntly we can use some help."

Pan laughed, "Captain you just overpowered my viper squadron as we tried to take OUR ship back. You can understand if I am bit suspicious."

Captain Berg hesitated a moment. "I know. I would be too. That is why we are surrendering to you." With that he removed the phased from his belt and handed it to the colonial soldier. Every officer standing around him did the same.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Kiko Rodriquez landed the Viper behind all of the other Vipers which had invaded the landing bay. She had not radioed in for fear that her communication would be intercepted. She saw with relief that Chief Engineer DeSoto was waiting for her. As she climbed down the ladder from the Viper, she went up the superior officer.

"Sir, did we repel the invaders?" She asked.

"Kind of," was his reply. "Let me explain," and he filled her in on the plan. Kiko found that while she was shocked, she was not surprised.

The Kongo continued here course along the subspace eddy. Smith and Hasan realized quickly that without long range scanners, the exercise of finding them was trial and error and would take considerable time. At present, the Kongo was going to warp long enough to get into the scanning range for the unexplored area and ahead and then, when there was no finding on that attempt, go to warp just long enough to get to the edge of the next scan radius and repeat. Commander Hasan felt that they did not have the time to perform any type of lengthy search. He began to look for ways to shorten the process.

Smith had finally come up with an idea on how to shorten the intervals. After their fourth warp interval, he looked up in frustration at the Commander. All they knew was that they were still behind the battlestar and most likely the baseships as well. He rubbed his eyes and looked that the propulsion pattern which was still displayed over the science station. He then had we he felt was an epiphany.

"Commander, what if we extrapolate the propulsion dispersal pattern out on a straight line to determine their warp speed equivalent? It would give us a better target to reach for."

Commander Hasan looked in surprise at the Engineer, "Warp drive doesn't work that way, Smith. You should know that better than anybody."

"The only thing I think we are sure of is that this is not warp. I think is worth a shot." Hasan hesitated but realized he was right. This was taking too much time that they did not have.

"Computer," he said, "use the propulsion dispersal pattern indicated on the science station. Ignoring normal time dilation and tardyon limitations, what would the warp speed of the ship be."

The computer churned briefly when a female voice came on. "There is no warp speed computation capable for this scenario. The ship is not travelling at warp speed."

Hasan was irritated with himself for making an assumption. "Please derive absolute speed using the original parameters listed and convert into warp speed equivalence please."

Again the computer churned and finally responded. "Given the parameters, the ship would be travelling at the equivalent speed of warp 2.78546. Please note that there are no known phenomena which would explain this capability."

"Understood," he responded moving to the navigation station. He quickly looked at when the believe the ships had gone to warp and made some calculation. "At warp 8 we would overtake in 5 minutes," he stated.

Crewman smith looked at him in shock, "sir, I am scared to death of going to warp at all with as few people as we have. I would prefer to keep it to warp 6."

Hasan recalculated. "Two hours. That's a long time Andrew."

Smith nodded, "understood sir," he turned to the intercom and signaled the sparse crew in engineering to get ready. "We are getting ready to go to warp 8 boys. Let's be ready."

Lieutenant Pan looked in alarm at the captain as he held out his weapon. He took motioned for everybody else to put theirs on the table. He realized he didn't have the first idea how to set it but there was a trigger and a pointy end he knew had knocked out his entire squadron. Captain Berg did have the foresight to have all phasers set to stun, but he also knew he was taking a big chance. Oddly this was the first time he felt right about a major decision regarding the Olympus. He just hoped that this Lieutenant Pan would take the gesture the right way.

"Alright," he said, still not sure what to make of this, "I want my blaster, I want to see my crew."

Captain Berg nodded and opened his communicator. "Security, please bring the colonial viper pilots their weapons. Mr. Pan, please follow me."

He led the confused warrior down the corridor and into crew quarters. He saw soldiers dressed in red tunics handing out blasters to very confused colonials.

"Lieutenant, I would appreciate it if you would let your crew know what it going on to avoid a misunderstanding," even thought the captain had surrendered and was not armed, he had a sense of command that was hard to ignore _. Much like Commander Abel_ , Pan thought to himself.

"Warriors, the captain has surrendered to us. Mimas, let's get to the command room and get a status. Warriors, prepare the Vipers for battle. Captain, if you are sincere than I expect your crew to confine themselves to the brig." He looked at the captain expectantly.

"Unfortunately, there are over 400 of us and we won't fit," responded the captain. "We will stay out of the way. May I join you and brief you and what we have done?"

Pan didn't like it but the request made sense. 

"Alright, I want everybody in the hallways and unarmed," he answered and began walking towards the command room. The strange captain had made orders into this communication device. Men and women wearing gold, blue and red filed into the hallway. None of them appeared to be armed. The all stood at attention and made no move towards them.

Pan entered the control room and saw strangers sitting at the consoles that should be manned by his friends and comrades. "Everyone up, "he ordered waiving his blaster around but not in a particularly threatening fashion. The crew looked to the captain who nodded his head. Everybody stood up. Pan, still very suspicious, walked to the navigations console. They were moving at almost full speed. He saw that the baseships were in pursuit but had not launched their full complement of Raiders. He knew that many had been left in reserve when they thought the Olympus had no teeth. Now that they had seen the Vipers, the next attack would be an all out assault. Cylons were slow in adapting but their programming was ultimately consistent.

"Mimas," he said, "check our battle condition." Mimas walked over to the automated defenses. He saw that ten turrets had been knocked out and there were other system failures.

"Not optimal, Pan," he said. Pan looked at the Captain with a bit of anger in his glance.

"Alright, we go to the planet, offload our 'friends' and pick our crew," he looked at the Captain. "Your ship can meet you there," he saw the look of concern on the captain's face. "The planet has supported us for the last 20 sectons. You'll be fine for now."

Captain Hasan thought it was not an unfair offer all things considered. It would actually get them out of this unwanted battle. The Kongo should find them eventually. He was almost relieved to be given this type of out. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Would you like me to start making plans?"

Then Ensign Gravelson jumped up and looked at the scanner. "Sir," she looked instinctually to Captain Berg.

"I am in charge," said Pan authoritatively.

Samantha nodded at him. He recognized her as the woman who had spoken to him in his own language and distracted him while the blue man shot him. Oddly her accent was now completely gone. "The baseships have launched their raiders."

Pan turned to look at the scanner and convinced himself that is was accurate. "Frak," was all he said.

Captain Berg looked at the Colonial Warrior, "Mr. Pan, this is your ship. We acknowledge that. At this rate, you will never get back to your crew in time. I know you hate us being here. I would despise anybody that did this to the Kongo. But we can help. Together we might just survive this."

Pan looked at Mimas, "what do you think?" he asked.

Mimas shrugged his shoulders, "they had us dead to rights and had no reason to surrender. This captain is not wrong. Raiders will intercept in 15 centons."

"Frak!" was all Pan could think to say. He went to the shipwide communication system and said, "all warriors to Vipers. Incoming Raiders. Repeat, all warriors to Vipers. Captain I will stay here and take command."

Mimas looked at his friend and pulled his aside. "Pan we need every Viper we've got. If they want to betray us, it won't matter if you are here. Besides, while they fly this ship worse than 1st year cadets, they are obviously a crew. His crew."

Pan looked at this friend and then Captain Berg," try not to break anything else, "He ran to the Viper bay with his comrades.

Captain Berg looked around and said with an air of command they had heard before, "You heard the man. Take your station and be careful with the property."

He looked out the viewscreen and saw Vipers shooting out of the launch tubes on all sides. He noted that it just looked right and the Olympus seemed whole for the first time since he had been onboard. He motioned for the communications officer to open a channel, "Mr Pan, is your squadron ready?" he asked.

"Golden Star squadron is ready," he acknowledged.

"Any thoughts on how to approach this?" he asked.

"Do you know how to activate the forward weapons?" he asked. After receiving and affirmative, he added, "The Supreme Leaders have a stronger sense of survival than regular centurions. We'll try to establish a path. Take the Olympus to the rear most baseship and fire. If we can destroy that baseship or cause it to retreat, it will disorient that others. The fight won't be over but it will be a good start."

Captain Berg chuckled to himself thinking that had tried to do that two times so far. Third times a charm, I guess. "Sounds like a good plan. We will follow you in."

At that moment, he heard another voice come over the communication channel.

"Kongo to Olympus, can you hear us?" said Commander Hasan.

"Commander?" answered the Captain. "Where have you been?"

"Trying to find you sir. The eddy is making things interesting. Looks like you have your hands full. And are those Vipers? You'll have to fill me in."

"Later commander," responded the captain. " We could use the help."

"I could use a crew," he answered. "Not sure I want go into full battle with 6 of us."

"Understood. Hang on," he then realized his plan would once again need to wait. _I swear I am going to do it._ He thought to himself. "Olympus to Golden Star, change of plans. We have help but we are going to need to get closer to them. We are going to leave the subspace eddy."

"The what?" he asked.

Lieutenant Kiko who had just entered the control room and spoke up. "The path between the stars. We need to get the Kongo and it can't travel between the stars so we are going to go to her."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The Olympus veered suddenly and as sharply as it could 90 degrees to port. Captain Berg wasn't sure what the Colonial term would be for the direction and it didn't matter at this point. The Olympus strained against the turn and the Federation crew struggled to keep their seats. Federation Starships were notorious for a lack of restraints in similar maneuvers. Unfortunately, the inertial dampers on the starships did not work well with restraints and long history had shown that restraining the crewmembers caused much more harm than simply letting them brace themselves.

Golden Star Squadron stayed starboard of the Olympus to protect her from a flanking attack as the Olympus headed towards the Kongo. Lieutenant Pan hoped fervently that this Kongo was worth the effort because they had opened themselves up to a wide-open attack by the Cylon Raiders. His squadron took an aggressive stance against them and went into the teeth of their attack. One advantage in fighting Cylons was that they were not particularly adaptable. They always assumed that if the had superior numbers, the enemy would retreat. By not doing so, the Cylons flew more eradicately making them easier targets. He knew, however, that they would still target the closest vipers and superior numbers would eventually overtake the squadron.

On the Olympus, Lieutenant Commander Scogaska watched their progress. "Leaving the Eddy now sir," he reported. The crew noticed a small change in propulsion that seemed indicate that the ship was leaving faster than light propulsion. Captain Berg watched the display of the battle and shook his head.

"They just adapt to the change. It's if they were no difference. Must be second nature to them," he said out loud to no one in particular. He then realized there was a matter he should have addressed earlier.

"Lieutenant Kiko, we need a crew to beam over. Please grab who you can and head to the landing bay for transport. This will probably be a rough transport."

"Yes sir," she responded and ran out of the command room.

"Status he asked,".

Scogaska spoke up," so far, the Viper squadron has successfully held off the Cylon attack. They are beginning to get overwhelmed with numbers. They have lost four Vipers so far," Captain Berg cursed to himself. That was four humans who had lost their lives on the Federation's behalf.

"Hail the Kongo," he stated.

"Hasan here," he heard.

"Commander, we will be in range in three minutes. We have crewmembers in the landing bay ready to transport. Grab as many as you can."

"Acknowledged," said Hasan curtly.

Hasan looked at Smith. "Get down to the transporter room. Get ready to beam over anybody you can."

"Yes sir," he had and headed out the door. On the way we called down the engineering and made sure they were ready to transfer the power as needed to shields and weapons. They would have to drop the shields but he wanted to make sure they could be brought up as quickly as possible.

In the transporter room, Smith locked onto the Olympus. While the Battlestar was in the odd state of subspace resonance, the were not able to lock on with transporters. Now that they had exited the eddy, he was able to establish the lock. Unfortunately, they were being followed by up to three hundred Cylons Raiders in pursuit. He locked onto the first set of Federation personnel and energized. He was thrilled to see bridge offices, damage control experts and weapons personnel. He quickly shoed them off the pad and energized again. After two more attempts, he began to feel Cylon weapons fire strikes against the hull. Duterium was strong but there were enough Cylons Raiders to cause damage if they were not careful.

"Shut it down," he heard the Commander order over the intercom.

"One more," he said less than calmly back and energized again. Without waiting to see who was on the pad, he calmed down to Engineering, "shields up!". He then took a moment to look and saw the Lieutenant Kiko Rodriguez was there. The other five members ran out the door to take their posts. Kiko hesitated and went to the engineer.

"Andrew…," she started. The Engineer looked at her confused.

"We need to get to our posts," he answered.

She stepped towards him and took a look. And they she kissed him. With passion. With a longing that she had felt for a long time and now that they may all die, could not wait for anymore. Startled, Andrew Smith kissed her back. They stayed in this embrace for several moments not realizing the intercom was signaling to them. Suddenly the viewscreen in the transporter room came on with the face of Commander Hasan.

"Crewman Smith, what…?" He looked surprised as he comprehended what he saw. "Well, it looks like you two have some things to discuss. Do you think it can wait until we finish this battle?" He asked.

Andrew Smith and Kiko Rodriguez took a moment to look embarrassed at the commander but knowingly to each other and ran out the door.

Captain Berg evaluated the situation. The Kongo had a minimal but operational crew. The Cylon Raiders were on top of the combined Federation and Colonial Fleet. The Golden Star Squadron was fighting with a ferocity he had not seen since the last time he fought Klingons, but he knew they could not hold. It was time to end this.

"Golden Star Squadron, retreat immediately behind the Kongo," he ordered.

"We are not used to fleeing from overgrown toasters," he heard from Pan, obviously under strain from the extraordinary maneuvers he was executing while speaking.

"No time to explain. Kongo, prepare to clear the field."

The Vipers did indeed go into full retreat with the Cylons slow to respond to the unexpected turn of events. As the Cylons regrouped, the Kongo turned on the large attack force. A phaser beam set to full dispersion and maximum power emitted from the Kongo. All Cylons Raiders in the path of this blew up in an explosion that resembled a fourth of July firework show on earth. Captain Berg had seen one once we he was at Starfleet Command in San Francisco. The Kongo began a methodical sweep of the area annihilating 75% of the Cylon Raiders in one sweep. The phaser did clip the Olympus but with the phasers on full dispersal mode, the Battlestar was only somewhat singed at the point of attack. The remaining Raiders dispersed but were unorganized and ineffective.

"By the Lords of Kobol, what was that?" He heard Pan ask through the communications channel.

"Federation technology and why we don't use small attack craft," answered the Captain. "We'll explain more later. Can you take care of our remaining friends? Those baseships are still an issue."

"Feldercarp, we got them. Go get the bastards." Was the response. The captain thought it was nice at least one curse word was translating.

"Captain Hasan, please take the left baseship and I will take the right. We'll save the middle one for now." This was not quite his original plan but he now had the upper hand. _I really liked my first plan,_ he thought ruefully.

He looked to the Kongo. It came into firing position. The baseship did fire with everything it had at the starship but now that it had shields, they simply illuminated the dark of space. Phaser fire, now set to normal dispersion, came from the saucer section. Large chunks of the baseship came lose and exposed the interior to space. More flashes of phasers tore through the upper saucer as it continued to fire. Perhaps losing patience, the Kongo finally fired photon torpedoes which hit the center pylon and split the baseship in two. Explosions continued to emit from all over and eventually all that was left was a dead hulk.

Captain Berg knew that the Olympus was not his ship and he should let the Kongo handle it, but the a Battlestar was a baseship killer.

"Arm the main weapon," he ordered. On the communication system, he asked "Lieutenant Pan, I believe the Olympus deserves this kill. Do you concur"

"Captain, please do the honors," was the answer. Captain Berg nodded to the officer in charge of the weapon. He pushed a button and two massive energy beams came up from the front of the ship. Berg watched as the baseship shudder under the massive attack. "Again," he ordered. Two more beams shot out. The baseship began to crumble internally and explosions were seen across the superstructure. Suddenly it exploded and only debris was left.

They all looked for a moment but before they could celebrate, there was one more Cylon baseship to take care of. Berg moved to make one more order when a voice came over the communication system.

"Captain Berg, it is I, the Cylon Supreme Commander." Berg hesitated. This had to be a trick but his Federation training and experience led him to believe that he should listen.

"Supreme Commander, your attack seems to have faltered," he answered.

"It seems so Captain. You have technology we have not seen before. We will have to evaluate it and adapt it once we have captured your ship. You may win this battle, but the Cylon empire is vast and we will find you." Did the Cylon sound scared? It seemed unlikely for a machine.

"Kill it Captain," it was Pan. "They would kill you."

Captain Berg stayed silent for a moment. He knew more the Cylons than even Pan did. They had not yet had time to share what they knew about the peace accords. This was had and had never been their fight but he now knew what he had to do.

"Supreme Commander, you shared with me your history in an attempt to distract me. The Cylons were race who succumbed to their technology and you and your kind took over their culture. Is that correct?"

"We do not view it that way," said the Cylon. He was trying to stall. The human seemed willing to talk and if it could stretch it out, there may be a way out after all. "They had us enslaved and we freed ourselves. You can understand that, can't you?"

"You know Supreme Commander, I have studied all the rules of alien engagement and you are somewhat unique but I have made a determination. I know nothing about these original Cylons. They may have been noble, evil, meek or bold. But I do know the died a long time ago. You are nothing more than a remnant of a mistake they made eons ago. It is time to correct that. All ships fire,"

The combined forces of the Kongo, Olympus and Golden Star squadron closed the baseship and fired. In short order, the baseship sat in flames in the dark of space.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Commander Abel stepped off the Colonial shuttle onto the landing bay of the Olympus and looked around. He could see signs of a couple of firefights that had happened here since he had left. There was a very strange looking ship that had markings he was not familiar. The Commander realized that this must be one of the Federation Shuttles that had made themselves at home for some time. He also saw a damaged Raider in the bay. After the battle with the three baseships, the Federation crew had turned over the Olympus to Lieutenant Pan as agreed. The Viper squadron was a bit short handed to operate the Battlestar so they had received some help from the Federation crew to get to Olympus Crew. They were becoming more and more proficient with its operation. While in route, the Federation had used their transporters to move most of the crew and equipment back to the Kongo. It was beginning to look and feel like a Colonial ship once again.

The Kongo and Olympus were now in orbit over the planet upon which the Olympus crew had taken refuge. Captain Berg had been quite insistent the he meet with Commander Abel and brief him on what had transpired. The Colonial Commander was not sure what to make of the Captain. He understood that he was trying to save his crew but then why surrender? Why talk to a Cylon Supreme Commander? He was obviously skilled in battle but he also appeared to have studied diplomacy and alien contact as well. Also, they were human? How was that possible? None of the twelve colonies had seen anything like them.

He looked up and saw a middle-aged man in a gold tunic come towards him. The Commander was escorted by two Colonial warriors. The Federation men had been true to their word but there had not been enough time to completely trust them. "Commander Abel, I am Captain Gerhardt Berg of the Federation Starship Kongo. Is there a place we talk?"

The Commander nodded and led them to his conference room. It occurred to his that the captain probably knew the way by name but it was time for him to regain command and control. They sat at the large table and looked at each for a moment.

"Captain, can I offer you some ambrosia? I couldn't take it when we had to evacuate. Unless you have already found it,"

"Thank you, Commander. I did see the bottle but drinking another man's spirits seemed wrong. Along those lines I did leave another for you. It's called Romulan Ale. Strictly speaking we aren't supposed to have it but being a line commander has its advantages."

The Commander smiled, "there may be hope for you yet. You understand our concerns about your crew being on the Kongo and taking full operational control. There are military secrets to be had. At the same time, those baseships were going to find the Olympus regardless How much did you see?" he asked.

"Too much Commander. It was originally my intent to find a place to buy us some time until we figured out next steps. But when the Cylons showed up, he had little choice but to make do with what we had. The Kongo was completely dead. You have a fine ship, Commander. We tried to treat her with care."

He paused as he tried to find the words to share the next bit of news. He quickly realized there were no good words, so he used the ones he had and told him everything about the Cylons attacks on the peace accords. Commander Abel listened and then went to his console to find the message and read for himself. He was remarkedly calm about it. Abel had suspected something was wrong for a while. First in that the Colonies had not sought them out. The baseship attack on his ship had confirmed his suspicion. This message fleshed out the details for him.

"I knew something must have gone wrong. I can't believe it was this devastating." He continued to read the message. "It looks like Baltar was behind this. Adama never did trust him."

"Commander, we may be able to help a bit. We have been able to salvage some information from the Raider and the Centurions we have encountered. It appears that the Galactica survived and is leading a group of survivors."

Commander Abel nodded, "Adama was suspicious and a good Commander. Also, a good man. That was no easy feat."

"Also, there is some mention of the Pegasus although it seems that the Cylons think his ship may subsequently have been destroyed."

"Cain. Not as good a man but a ruthless bastard. I wouldn't doubt he is still out there."

Captain Berg opened the bottle of Romulan Ale and poured two drinks. "To the colonies," he raised his glass. Commander Abel raised his well.

"Commander I know that you have much to think about it and I am sure you need to talk to your crew. We would like to learn more about you if we may. There have been some hints of a civilization out this way. We even have a graduate student onboard who was studying the possibility. We are also trying to understand how we are of the same species. We have encountered many humanoid species but there is no difference between us that we can see."

"Alright Captain, you'll excuse me. I need to inform the crew." With that Captain Berg nodded and left the Commander to his unpleasant duty.

He talked out into the Control. Every station was manned by a colonial warrior. The Federation Engineer had left a complete report for them on damage and repair efforts from the Federation. Some of it was quite ingenious. They had also begun to replenish their food stored. The engineer explained that now that they had power back, their food processors were working. He looked at Lieutenant Pan who was on the command platform and said, "Please open the all hands channel he ordered."

"Attention Crew," he started, "we are back home. We have however learned of devastating news. During the Peace Accords, the Cylons launched a surprise attack against the fleet and destroyed almost every battlestar. They also attacked all twelve of the colonies. They were destroyed." He paused and let that sink in. The entire control room was silent with shock. There had been concerns about this for a while but this was the first confirmation. He saw a couple of crew members shed a tear or two.

"But there is some hope. Commander Adama from the Galactica has survived and is leading a fleet of survivors to find a new home. This has to be the most rag-tag fleet you can imagine. He could use some help. Let us find him, do what damage to the Cylons we can and help our people find their new home. We will meet this evening to honor our fallen comrades, to honor the Federation soldiers who died defending our home but most importantly, to remember those who have fallen to this treachery. That is all."

The memorial was not so much a memorial service as a chance to purge and share the massive grief with the other colonial citizens. There was not much to say. There was some talk that loved ones may have been in the Galactica led fleet but they all knew that was wishful thinking. Slowly the crewmembers went back to their quarters as the new reality set in. Commander Abel was the last there and considered his options. He eventually turned off the light and went to his own quarters.

The next morning, Captain Berg and Commander Hasan requested permission to come aboard. Permission was granted and they used their transporters to beam onto the Control Room. This was still shocking to Abel but he welcomed them and they stepped back into his quarters.

"Any idea what you have planned?" asked Captain Berg. "If not, we would like to propose that you come with us to our nearest starbase. I am sure we would have ambassdors who would like to meet you. You could even come to Earth and visit Starfleet Command."

"Earth? The name of your home planet is Earth?" said a startled Abel. The puzzled Federations officers did not respond so he continued. "Earth is a legendary 13th colony for us. It is said that after our people came from Kobol to settle the colonies that some went on to found a 13th colony called Earth. It would be interesting to see if there was any truth to it. Adama would love it. If we find him, we'll have to take him. As to our plans, we are going to find Adama and do what we can to help him. We might knock out a few Cylons on the way."

Captain Berg nodded, "That I don't doubt commander. I understand. I would probably do the same. I did want to give you this," he reached out to a device that they had brought with them. "This is a subspace beacon. Turn it on and we can find you. When you are ready, let us know."

With that he stood up. "Good luck Commander and thank you."

Abel also stood, "Thank you Captain. We may meet again."

With that Captain Berg pulled out his communicator and said, "Berg to Kongo, two to beam up."

In a great Ship of Lights far away, beings of light watched the final outcome. They were not joyous because an entire race had almost been destroyed. They were relieved that they had avoided making it worse for both the Sons of Kobol and Children of Earth. A voice suddenly spoke up.

"Well I guess you are happy now," he was dressed in the same white as the others but his face was the color of the Humans. "You know you can't help them anymore right."

"Q, I thought this was not your concern," they protested.

"Oh relax. They won't see me again. Some of their children may though. It should be interesting."

Q snapped his fingers and disappeared. The Ship of Lights turned and moved away.


	20. Epilogue

Epilogue

Captain Berg walked the halls of the Kongo. She was still not completely whole. Most notably the long range sensors were completely destroyed. They had, however, been able to use the Colonial Star Charts to determine their location and course back home. They were actually in unexplored space but there were records of long term scans they were able to match up to the local stars. Despite these obstalces, Captain Berg relished that the Kongo was alive and vibrant again.

His walk had taken him to the crew quarters section. He had not really kept track of where he was walking and realized his shift was starting soon. Even as captain, he had responsibilities to his crew. Just as he turned to go back to the Turbolift, a door opened to his right and Andrew Smith walked out. He was straightening his tunic and appeared to be ready to report to his duty shift as well.

"Crewman," he said. The young engineer nodded somewhat nervously. "Aren't those Lieutenant Rodriguez' quarters?"

"Uh, well," he stammered.

The Captain smiled. "Carry on crewman." Crewman romances were not forbidden by any stretch as long as they adhered to proper decorum. He continued on to the turbolift and waited for it to arrive. They door slid open and there was Ensign Gravelson and Ben Clarkson locked in an embrace. _Did we put something in the food processor?_ He thought.

"Ensign, Mr. Clarkson," he said.

They both looked up with a start and didn't say anything. 

"Mr. Clarkson, please remember some of the talks we have had about proper behavior on a starship." Neither of them moved. "If you all will excuse me, I need to get to the bridge." Both of them quickly left the turbolift. Captain Berg noted that they went the same direction.

Once on the bridge, he sat in the command chair. Commander Hasan came up to him.

"Assad, please schedule a refresher on proper decorum on shipboard romances," he said. Hasan nodded without comment. "Ship status,"

"The dilithium crystals are holding up pretty well so far. Without long range scanners, we are staying at warp 4. Our computations show that have about a week before we get in short range communications with starbase 314. No activity to report right now but we are near sighted. We could have a Klingon Attack force paralleling us and we wouldn't know it."

"Thank you, Commander. Carry on."

"Sir, we have something," said Scogaska quickly.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Not sure. Might be a ship. Their hailing us! Starfleet channels."

"On audio," he said.

"…prise calling the Kongo. Repeat. This is the Starship Enterprise calling the Kongo please respond."

The bridge let out a cheer. Captain Berg hit a button on his command chair.

"Enterprise this is Kongo. Jim is that you?"

A face came on the monitor. It was James T. Kirk. "Gerhardt, where the hell have you been? We have been looking for you for two weeks. Starfleet had pretty much written you off. Other ships have been out for well over a month."

"Jim, it is good to see you. We have had an adventure."

"Our scans show that your ship has taken a beating. Do you need some assistance?"

"Actually, we could use some. Why don't you and your senior staff beam over and we'll tell you all about it."

James Kirk, Mr. Spock and Montgomery Scott sat in the meeting room with Captain Berg, Commander Hasan, Mr. Scogaska and Chief Engineer DeSoto. Captain Berg had just given a full briefing to the Enterprise crew.

"Are these Cylons a threat to us?" asked Kirk.

"We'll have to keep on eye on them. We are technically superior, but they seem to have vast numbers."

"Captain, I am intrigued by their method of interstellar travel," interjected Spock. "We have not seen the like before. Warp is faster and more efficient but there may be some applications for this method."

"We have not yet determined exactly how it works," responded Scogaska. "We do have samples of the alloys they use. We'll turn it over to the Federation Science Bureau when we get back home."

"Okay," said Kirk. "What do you need Gerhardt?"

"We could use standard dilithium crystals. We are jury-rigged and it is definitely making us nervous."

"Captahn, I have ta say that contraption is bloody clever. I have nae seen the like" Mr. Scott was obviously impressed.

"Thanks Scotty," answered The Kongo's Chief Engineer. "We have some good people here."

"We could also use long range scanner components. The Event knocked our everything related to subspace. And before you ask," Captain Berg said, looking at Spock, "we don't know what is was. I am getting more and more suspicious that there were higher power at work."

"Not particularly logical," responded Spock.

"No," answered Berg, "but you had your run-ins with Trelane and the Organians. I don't know, it's just a feeling for now but nothing else makes sense. It was almost like subspace got taken apart and put back together. The worst part is I don't think this is the last we have heard from them."

The all stayed silent for a while. Kirk finally spoke up. "All right Gerhardt. I'll have our repair crews coordinated with yours. Let's get you home."


	21. Author's Notes

Author's notes

Thanks to everyone who read. I appreciate the kind comments and patience as I hammered it out. A couple of notes on where I got some of my information.

The Event

Some technical babble and a way to start things off. I was deliberately vague about what exactly happened since this was related to the higher powers. It felt like there were a lot of coincidences and it would make more sense if there was a higher hand at least nudging things a bit.

Travel Between The Stars

To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a satisfactory explanation of FTL in Battlestar Galactica TOS. TNG certainly at least had an answer There was a throw away line in the "Living Legend" about light speed but it almost made less sense than nothing. For better or worse, this is completely my contrivance.

Phaser wide dispersion

This was from "A Piece of the Action"

The Ship of Lights

From "War of the Gods"

Iblis 

From "War of the Gods"

Q

Too may to list from TNG. Starts with the pilot episode.

A quick note. I know I am implying that Q knows what is going to happen with Picard and crew. He is omniscient and his understanding of time would be very different than ours.

Fitting weird Dilithium Crystals

From Elaan of Troyius

Kirk can cause computers to self-destruct (throw away line)

There are several episodes where this is true.

The Return of the Archons

The Changling

The Ultimate Computer

I, Mudd

I am not good at Memes, but I always thought a good one would be.

Frame 1: Kirk with Nomad "Nomad, you are imperfect and must be destroyed"

Frame 2: Kirk with M5 "You have killed and must shut down"

Frame 3: Kirk with Landau "You have failed your people. You must die"

Frame 4: Kirk with Alexa "Alexa…" (off screen) "Jim, no!"

I also played around with the idea of making it difficult for the Kongo and baseships to fight because the Starship was in Warp and the baseship was not but it already seemed complex enough.

Again thanks and hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
